Beauty and the Genius
by RHfan
Summary: A series of oneshots about Dr. Spencer Reid and Agent Ashley Seaver. Ranging anywhere from when they first met, to their life after they leave the B.A.U. Because who doesn't want to see Reid end up with a wonderful girl like her?
1. Chapter 1

Hello Everybody. This is my first story for criminal minds. I'm going to make it a collection of oneshots. Now some of them could be long and some of them could be short, I have no idea until i write them. None of the chapters go together, they are all seperate, unless I say beforehand that a chapter goes with another one. I'm unsure how often that would happen though. Let me know if you have any requests, I could try to do those for you guys. I love the pairing of Reid/Seaver. Idk why, I just think they are close in age and have a lot in common, and could have an awesome connection. Enjoy these oneshots guys, heres the first one, more to come in the future.

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Ashley Seaver sat in the back of the black SUV, blood splattered onto her face and her clothes. She couldn't believe that she had unknowingly walked into the house of the unsub, unarmed. Thank goodness that Hotch called her or she knew she probably would have been dead before they showed up.

She didn't want to cry; to show weakness. She wanted the team to think she was strong enough to handle this job. Crying would only prove to them that she wasn't. On the other hand she had just had a knife held to her and Mr. Jacobs was threatening to end her life; anyone would be upset by that.

She was thankful that everyone seemed to be leaving her alone. She just needed some time alone to cry and to thank her lucky stars that she wasn't soon to be six feet under.

A few hours later as she sat on the plane, after Rossi and Hotch had scolded her for her actions, she thought about Heather. That little girl had just lost her mother and her father. She would probably go to an aunt, or a grandparent in some other city. However she would never escape the demons that her father surely caused her. Ashley knew what it was like growing up with a father like that, one who killed other women yet loved you more than anything. You wanted to be angry at him, and you were, but only to an extent. You still loved him, he was your father, but there would always be that hurt in the way. Her father betrayed her, just as Heathers father betrayed Heather. A father was supposed to be there for their kids. You couldn't very well do that from the cell that will become your tomb.

"Hey."

Ashley looked up from her seat on the couch to see Dr. Spencer Reid sitting down next to her.

"Oh, hi Dr. Reid."

"You know you don't have to call me that, right? The doctor part, you don't have to add that. Reid is fine, or even Spencer if you want to call me that. It is my name after all."

She gave a small laugh as he tried not to fumble through his words. "I'll keep that in mind."

"So is everything okay, um, Ashley." He felt a little bit weird calling her by her first name. The only person they ever really called by their first name was J.J. and even that was just a nickname. They called Elle by her first name quite frequently, but that had been so long ago now. It was a bit unnatural to him. "You just seem sort of upset. Not to say that you shouldn't be, I mean, you were put in a pretty scary situation."

She found his rambling sort of adorable. "Yeah, I'm okay. Just a bit shaken up is all. I'll be fine."

"You know it's okay to feel scared. That's a scary thing to go through"

"Have you ever been in that position before, you know, where you thought you were in the last few moments of your life?"

Reid wracked his brains and thought of all of the times in this job that he felt exactly that way. "Yeah, I may have felt like that once or twice." He chuckled.

Ashley gave him a confused look, so he continued to speak.

"Let's name a few of those times shall we? There was a time that I was shot in the leg by a man targeting a doctor. The man had his gun pointed at the doctor and of course I ran to push him out of the way. I was sure that the bullet was going to hit me somewhere awful, and even though I had that vest on, that doesn't take away any of the fear. Luckily for me the bullet hit my leg and I wasn't too injured. I was on crutches for a while but it could have been worse."

"Luckily the man you saved was a doctor right? If you have to be shot, it's a good thing there was a doctor." She smiled at him and he returned it in full.

"Then there was the time way back when I first started with the B.A.U. and I had just failed my gun test, again. So I wasn't allowed to carry a firearm. We were looking for a sniper and we eventually found out he was working in an area hospital. He knocked me out with his gun and then held Hotch and I at gun point. Here I was, no gun, no vest, and I had a rifle pointed at my head by a sniper. An angry sniper mind you, the man was really aggressive. We made it out unharmed when I was able to get ahold of Hotch's spare gun and send a shot right through his forehead."

"Wow, did you get your gun privileges back?"

"Sure did." After a brief pause he continued. "Then there was the time in Texas where Elle ended up being a hostage on a train after a man thought she was spying on him since she was a federal agent. He thought he had a government chip implanted in his skin, sort of a big brother is watching you type deal. I volunteered to go in there and make it appear as if I was getting the chip out of his arm. I dabbled in magic tricks when I was younger and I was pretty good with the sleight of hand trick. Of course I went in there, unarmed and when I got in there I removed my vest. It was the only way the man would allow me to come aboard the train. I had a job to do, and I put my life on the line for that. I was insanely scared that I wouldn't do the trick the right way and he would notice I was lying and he would find out I'm an agent and I would be dead before anyone could fire off a shot at him."

Ashley spoke up. "Oh wow, that had to be nervewracking. You seem to get yourself into a bit of trouble sometimes."

"Exactly. So I know a little bit about how you feel. I know it sucks."

"Can I ask you something else?"

Reid opened the blanket on the back of the couch. It was chilly in the cabin and he held it up to her, silently asking if she was chilly. She was so she nodded. He spread it out, giving her half while keeping the half closest to himself on his legs. "You can ask me anything."

"Okay. Emily mentioned to me that you and she had been held hostage before? How did that feel?"

"A bit different. Of course it's not pleasant, but we were dealing with a religious cult and as long as I could kind of make them think I wasn't an enemy, they weren't aggressive towards me. They weren't always holding a gun to my head, or a knife to my throat. They did hurt Emily and I feel a bit guilty for that, but we did what we had to do to keep them calm and allow our guys to take control."

"Which one of those situations that you told me about tonight were the worst for you?"

Reid sat on the couch with his eyes cast onto the floor. It took him a few moments and a few deep breaths before he could speak again. Did he want to share that story with her, because it would mean he would have to relive that again. Who was he kidding though, because he relived those few days all of the time.

"I'm sorry, Spencer. I shouldn't be asking you this. That's personal stuff that I'm sure you don't want to divulge to a girl you just met."

"No. It's alright." He interrupted. "You are probably going to find out sooner or later and it's best you know." He looked up at her finally. "A while ago we were in rural Georgia. We were going to interview a man named Tobias Hankel about a murder. While we were there I was abducted by him and he kept me hidden for a few days from anyone else. He was a schizophrenic and he had two other personalities that weren't very nice. While I was there I was tortured and drugged by him, and he filmed it all, allowing the rest of my team to watch. He used a narcotic, Dilaudid. Luckily I'm still here today, because I didn't exactly think that I was going to be. I became addicted to the narcotic and it was a struggle afterwards to get over that addiction. Still to this day I sometimes feel that addiction, but I do my best to beat it down."

"I'm so sorry, that must be terrible. You must have a hard time forgetting those few days."

"Yeah it's not easy for anyone to forget something like that, but I have a eidetic memory. It's near impossible for me to forget it."

"When you are held hostage, or get taken by an unsub, or get put in danger by them, do you feel like a failure to your team? When I was in that house, and Mr. Jacobs had that knife to my throat, I thought about you all. That you were going to have to come and save me because I put myself in harms way."

"You didn't know that Mr. Jacobs was the unsub. You were just being the caring person that you are and trying to help that little girl. I'm just glad you were able to talk to him, keep him occupied, so that we could get there in time. You were smart, you did what you could and that's all anyone can ask of you." He readjusted the blanket on his legs. "No one blames you for what happened tonight, and no one is mad at you. Sure, Hotch and Rossi might seem like they were a bit, but it's just them. They have to be that way. They know that it was an accident, an honest mistake. You make mistakes and you learn from them. I bet next time someone asks you to come into their home for something, you are going to make sure that you take another one of us with you, right?"

"Is that an order, Dr. Reid?" Reid gave her a look. "I mean, Spencer."

"It is. There are a lot of sick people out there. That's what we do, we hunt and find the sick people who aren't in the right mindset. You are a beautiful girl and they wouldn't hesitate to take you."

"I promise to think a little bit more before I do something that stupid again."

Ashley smiled and looked over at Spencer.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"You said I was beautiful."

"I, um, might have."

Ashley opened her mouth to speak, but decided to leave it be and closed it.

"Well, thanks Spencer, for caring.

"Sure thing. Just remember, if you ever want to talk about anything, I'm always here."

Ashley returned the smile that he gave her. She pulled her legs onto the couch with her and laid her head along the back. Closing her eyes, she tried to get some sleep. She thought about her night, and what had happened. She had been scared, and she wasn't going to lie, it made her question if this was what she wanted to do. She had never been in that situation before. Then she thought about what Reid had told her. All of those stories that he shared with her must have been terrifying to him. If he could make it through all of that and still be doing this job, then she was sure she could make it as well. She was glad that he shared those situations with her tonight, because it allowed her to get to know him better. She realized that she wanted to get to know him even more. She couldn't deny that she found Reid intriguing and she would admit that she found him quite good to look at. She was into him, and she hoped that maybe he could be into her. As she drifted off to sleep, she knew she was in the place she wanted to be.

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Well there you have it. The first one shot in this fic. Let me know what you thought in a review, it would be most appreciated.


	2. Chapter 2

Hey guys, here is the second oneshot. In this one, it's fathers day. Reid and Seaver are still fairly new friends and coworkers and still don't know too much about each other. This one shows them allowing each other into their troubled childhoods, mostly reids childhood. It's easier to write Reid I think, because we see more of his character on the show. I hope you guys like this one!

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Ashley Seaver sat in the back of the plane, legs pulled up under herself on the couch, while the rest of her team sat in the front. Rossi was schooling Prentiss, J.J. and Morgan in a poker game. Hotch was watching from a seat across from them while he was looking at a newspaper, presumably filling in the empty spaces of a sudoku puzzle. Reid was sitting a few seats from them, a book open in his lap, although he wasn't exactly making any progress on his reading. He was distracted by all of the chatter of his other team members.

They had just wrapped up a case in Denver, and were flying back to Quantico after they had dinner at a local Italian restaurant, Rossi's idea of course. Reid had hoped to finish his latest book, but couldn't focus tonight with the commotion. There was another reason he couldn't focus, the same reason he couldn't focus this day every year. It was father's day.

"Hey." Reid whispered to Ashley as he approached her at the back of the plane. "Mind if I sit back here with you? It's kind of loud up there with the rest of them."

"Oh sure." Ashley looked up at him and moved a bit so he could sit on the small couch with her. He opened his book back up and started to scroll through the pages when Ashley interrupted him. "What are you reading?"

"Oh it's a book that my mother sent me. She's always finding new books that she's recommending me read. She was a college professor of 15-century literature, so of course she loves to read. Before I could myself she would actually read them to me. It's a good thing I like to read too, otherwise it would have been torture."

Ashley gave a small laugh at his joke. "Does she still teach?"

"Oh no, she doesn't teach anymore. Retired quite some time ago."

"She still live in Las Vegas where you grew up?"

"Yep she's still there."

"Has she ever come out to visit you in Quantico? You know, seen where you live, where you work, all of that good stuff."

"No." Reid sighed. "My mother can't really come out here by herself. I mean, she has been there before but a nurse came with her and she was only there to help us with a case."

"Nurse?"

He closed his book and set it on the small table next to him. "My mother is a schizophrenic. I've pretty much noticed that since I was little, but until I was of legal age I couldn't really get her any help unless I could convince her to get the help herself. When I turned 18, I had her placed in a facility where she could get medical attention and they could have surveillance on her 24/7. There was no way that I could watch her all of the time, and care for her in the way she needs."

"Oh god. That must have been hard for you. I'm not sure what to say."

"It's alright. It's kind of shocking to hear, I understand. My mother was pretty upset with me when I first put her in there, but now she's okay with it. I write to her almost everyday, and occasionally I visit. Not very often but once in a while."

"We have a weird thing in common Spencer. Both of us have a parent who wasn't in the right state of mind when we were children. Your mom battled schizophrenia and my dad was killing multiple women."

"Speaking of your father…" Reid started. "I don't mean to be forward, but I wanted to ask how you were doing. It's father's day, I know that can't be easy for you to think about."

"I haven't spoken to my father in years. Not since he was taken to jail when I was 18. He still writes to me all of the time and although I have his letters, I don't read them." She reached forward into her bag on the floor, producing an envelope. She handed it to Reid. "His latest letter to me. I checked my mail right before we left for this case and this was in there."

"Why don't you read them?"

He hasn't been in my life for a long time, sometimes it just seems easier to keep it that way. It keeps away the hurt that I'm afraid I'll feel if I read them. It's hard to explain. Sometimes I want to read them, but I can't bring myself to do it. I'm afraid at what he wrote, because I just don't know what to expect. Is he going to be remorseful, will he tell me he misses me, is he not going to care at all?"

"I'd say he cares enough to keep writing you letters all these years even if you haven't had any contact with him."

"I know, it's just hard to explain."

Reid nodded. He understood the feeling of a parent not being in your life so long that it was easier to just pretend like they don't exist anymore. If you didn't know anything about their life, it made you feel less guilty and less terrible about ignoring them.

"What about your Dad?" Reid raised his head to Ashley when she asked the question.

"Huh?"

"I said what about your Dad? Did you call him today, wish him a happy fathers day?"

Reid once again had to sigh. "No I haven't had contact with my father in quite some time."

Reid tensed up a bit as he registered that she moved forward and put her arms around him. He wasn't used to this contact from anyone, more specifically a girl. Sure he had hugged J.J. sometimes and on occasion other members of the team, but it wasn't very often. So when she was hugging him, he wasn't sure what to do. He wrapped his arms around her back and returned the squeeze she was giving him.

"What was that for?" He asked her as she pulled away.

"You know, I think that you've had a rough childhood. I've had a rough childhood. Sometimes when I think about it, I feel like I could use a friend who knows what I went through. I think you could use that. I can be that for you."

"I would like that. I don't often talk about my childhood though."

"Well why don't you tell me about it now and then you don't ever have to talk about it again if you don't want to, but if you do, then I'll already have an idea."

"Okay, well I was the only child of a mother with multiple personalities and severe bouts of depression. My father was a workaholic and left before I turned 6 years old. After that I took care of my mom and myself as best I could. I was particularly brilliant as a child, a prodigy if you will, and I was sadly forced to go to a Las Vegas public school. Needless to say I was constantly made fun of and bullied. The worst was probably a time when this really pretty girl started talking to me, and I thought she wanted to be my friend. She seemed interested in having a conversation with me, and she was really beautiful. As an awkward little kid, I thought it was the best thing in the world that she was talking to me, and I actually started to think she liked me. She asked me to come out to the football field with her and although that made me nervous to be alone with her, I went anyway. Turns out she had ulterior motives. After we got out there, some guys on the football team came and taped me to the goal posts, naked, and left me there. I don't think I've ever been more embarrassed in my entire life."

"Oh my goodness, that's terrible. I can't believe that happened to you."

"Yeah. Everyone always tells me that my brains are something that I should be thankful for, but at that moment I would have killed for some muscles."

Reid and Seaver sat for the next few hours just talking about their childhoods and what it was like for them growing up. Seaver told him about her relationship with her mother, and what it was like before her father had started killing. Spencer told her all about how his mother used to read to him college level literature at age 4. They just shared anything and everything, and surprisingly weren't embarrassed about it. After a few hours they realized that most of the team had taken to falling asleep or at least resting in the front of the plane leaving them the only ones still talking, so they lowered their voices.

"Oh hey, you should probably put this back in your bag." He handed her the envelope of her fathers letter, as it was still sitting on his legs.

"Yeah, guess I should." She paused as she took the letter back from him, staring at the writing on the front.

"You know, maybe you should consider reading one. Just one, and see how you feel."

She paused for a long time, still looking at the letter, before looking up at Spencer. "I just can't bring myself to. Not yet. Maybe in the future." She placed the letter back in her bag.

"Well if you ever need someone there when you do decide to read one, you know like a friend who understands a troubled childhood, you just let me know."

Ashley looked at him and returned his smile, but she still wasn't sure if she would ever be taking him up on that offer.

* * *

There you have it, the second oneshot! Let me know what you think.


	3. Chapter 3

Hello again. The next one shot is up. In this one we see a little more Reid/Seaver fluff. I really enjoyed writing this one. I hope you enjoy reading it just as much.

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"Come on Prentiss, you have to get the doctor to release me. I don't want to be in here."

Ashley was begging Emily to help her. She was lying in the hospital bed in a local hospital in Pheonix. Apparently they were working a case and she had hit her head at some point, causing her to have a bit of a head injury, hence the hospital. Unfortunately she wasn't really able to remember what had happened that made her hit her head in the first place. It was all kind of fuzzy. The last thing she remembered was that she was going to talk to the parents of a recent victim with Reid and Morgan.

"Seaver, you have a pretty bad head injury, and you cant even remember how it happened. They are going to keep you here for awhile. I'm sorry but you need to stay in that bed. They don't want you standing up. I know that you can be stubborn so that's why I'm keeping watch over you."

"What about the case? Did we find the unsub?"

"Yeah we got him. Don't worry. Hotch and Rossi are taking care of that now."

"What about Morgan and Reid, are they with Hotch and Rossi, or are they here?"

Prentiss paused as she looked up from the magazine that was in her hands. "No, they're here."

"Oh good. Then they're okay." Ashley smiled as she closed her eyes slowly drifting off to sleep again, no doubt under the influence of the meds that were draining into her via the tube in her arm.

Emily watched her drift off, thankful that she didn't ask anymore about Morgan and Reid. They were in the hospital, she didn't lie about that, but she didn't exactly say where they were in the hospital.

* * *

Morgan sat in the hospital room, in a chair next to the bed. He had just hung up with Rossi who was keeping him informed on the fate of the unsub. He heard a soft groan come from the bed and looked up to see the occupant still unconscious. Morgan had been there sitting for a few hours, after they had all rushed to the hospital, and although he knew that this situation wasn't his fault, he still felt a bit guilty. He thought back to what had happened just a few hours ago.

Flashback-

They had just arrived at the house of one of the victims. Morgan, Reid, and Seaver climbed out of the SUV. It was a medium sized house, where the parents of the victim lived, while the victim themselves, their daughter had lived in the apartment they had above a detached garage in the back of the yard.

"Reid, Seaver, you guys go talk to the parents in the house, I'm going to go check out the apartment above the garage and see if I can't find anything."

So Morgan walked up into the apartment. Boy was it small, but for a girl who wanted a bit of freedom from her parents now that she was going to the local community college, it worked. He found her computer and started to go through it. He noticed that she had joined quite a few clubs and groups at her college recently. More than likely the unsub was someone that she met in those groups. He sent the list to Garcia and asked for her to do her thing.

Morgan moved to a small shelf positioned next to the only window in the apartment. It overlooked the backyard and from a small distance you could see the house. He noticed nothing unusual about the items on the victims shelf but as he was going through them he noticed something outside. Someone was at the back door of the house. He couldn't exactly see who it was, but he knew it wasn't Reid or Seaver as they weren't wearing an FBI vest. He recognized the person as a male and thought that maybe it could be the victims father. However, he knew it wasn't when he saw the person reach inside of his jacket and pull out what looked like a gun. He knew that had to be the unsub, he had returned presumably to kill the parents.

Morgan saw the man enter the backdoor of the house, and that made Morgan rush out of the apartment towards the house as fast as he could. It wasn'ttoo far, and Morgan ran quickly so he reached the house at a reasonable time, but he knew that he couldn't just barge in there. He found a side window that looked into the living room. Inside he could see the parents of the victim on the couch, but they were already dead. Morgan would have heard the shots so he concluded that they had been dead before the team arrived at the house. He didn't see Seaver, Reid, or the unsub, so he moved around to a different part of the house.

The next window he came to looked into the kitchen mostly, but he could see into a hallway where he could see the unsub. The man had his gun positioned at the ready and Morgan could see that it was pointed at Seaver, while Reid was still standing next to her. Reid seemed to be talking to the unsub, trying to convince him to put his gun down. The unsub wasn't having any of it. Morgan carefully opened the window just enough so he could position his gun and point it at the unsub.

Morgan watched as the man carefully, with his gun still pointed, walked closer to Seaver and with his hand pushed some of her bangs out of her face. The man made some comment about being into blondes, and Morgan saw Reid's body tense up. He could tell Reid was trying not to show his anger and stay calm. The man backed away from them again and continued talking. He was telling Seaver and Reid that he killed the parents because the daughter had talked to him about how they never gave her any space. He said that he knew the daughter would have wanted them dead. So he killed them for her.

The next thing the man said made Morgan put his finger on the trigger of his own gun.

"I know that I'm not going to make it out of here. Either you guys are going to kill me or I'm going to kill myself. If I'm going to go, I would at least like to take blondie with me, you know to have in the after life." The unsub gave Seaver a creepy smile.

Morgan heard Reid try to tell the unsub that he didn't want to do that, that they weren't here to kill him. He told him to put the gun down and cautiously took a tiny step towards the unsub. Morgan heard the first shot and immediately fired his own gun at the unsub. The man must have panicked when Reid took that step towards him that he fired a few shots at Ashley before the bullets from Morgans gun took him down.

* * *

Morgan ran his hands over his face as he looked at Reid lying in the bed. Reid had taken two bullets, one in the back of his shoulder and one in the same arm. He was pretty much out of it since he was on so many pain meds right now.

After waiting for about another hour Reid was actually alert enough to wake up.

"Hey Reid. Welcome back buddy, you've been out of it for a few hours."

"Ashley, where's Ashley?" Reid tried to look around the room and sit up, which he couldn't so he was forced to lay back down. "Please don't tell me the unsub took her after he shot me."

"No she's okay. Reid the unsubs, dead. I shot him."

"Good. Man what have they got pumping into me, I feel pretty numb."

"That's good, you have two bullet wounds, if you could feel you would probably be in a lot of pain. Do you remember anything?"

"I just remember trying to talk him down, and he wanted to shoot her. I saw him move for that trigger, and I just threw myself on her."

"Reid you're insanely stupid, but insanely brave. You're that girls hero."

Reid tried not to smile at that comment. "So she didn't get shot right?"

"Nah man, you took both of the bullets."

Reid sighed. "So she's okay."

Morgan smiled at the younger guy in the bed. He knew that Reid had a thing for Seaver. He could tell way before today.

"Well Reid she's okay, but she did take quite a bump to the head."

"What do you mean by a bump?"

"When I went in the house after I shot the unsub, I saw that she was unconscious. She had a bit of a gash on her head, right up by her hairline. She must have hit her head pretty hard on the stand in the hallway when you guys fell down, knocked her out. Doctors say she has a bit of a head injury, probably just a concussion. Prentiss is in another room with her."

"Well now I don't feel like much of a hero. Hero's don't cause concussions."

Morgan watched as Reid started to frown. He almost said that statement with the voice of an upset 5 year old.

"Come on Reid, she's alright. You saved her from being shot. A concussion will heal."

When he didn't respond Morgan tried to make him laugh. "I'm sure she thinks of you as her Genius in shining armor."

"You aren't funny, Morgan."

"I'm sure there's no way she can't resist you now, huh? Now that you've saved her life she has to go out with you now." Morgan said as he smiled at Reid. Reid however just smirked and laid his head back on the bed.

"She doesn't like me that way."

"Really, you don't think so?" Morgan watched as Reid shook his head no. "But you like her that way right?"

There was a long pause, that Reid was sure lasted 10 minutes, although was probably more like 10 seconds. "Yeah. Yeah I like her that way." Reid sighed. "And I tell you this in complete confidence. You can't say anything. If Hotch found out, I'll probably get in trouble. If Garcia finds out, I won't hear the end of it, and I especially don't want Ashley finding out because it will be awkward."

"Oh Ashley huh? You call her by her first name. Interesting."

"Hush, Morgan. Just leave it be."

"You remember way back when you first started with the B.A.U. and Gideon tried to help you ask J.J. out? He wanted you to go out with a girl on an actual date and see how it went. If he were here right now, he would be telling you to go for it."

"Well he's not here, and I don't have the courage to just 'go for it'."

"Okay. I'm sorry to get you all worked up. Why don't you try to just rest, I'm going to go get something to eat real quick. I'll be back to check on you later."

* * *

"Alright, it's been 5 hours. The doctor said if I can stay awake for 5 hours and not have any huge issues that I could get up and walk around a bit. So Emily, go get the doctor, let's get this thing out of my arm, and let's get out of this room."

"Wow, you are really adamant about getting out of this bed."

"I don't really like hospitals, and I'm fine. There is no reason why I need to stay in this bed if I'm not having any problems. I just bumped my head a bit."

"It was a pretty bad bump. Don't touch that strip on your head, you still have fresh stitches. I'll go get the doctor and she if you can get out of here.

When the doctor came in, he did a few quick tests to see if she was responding normally, removed the tube from her arm, and told her that she could go but she needed to take it easy, go home, and get some more rest. Prentiss promised him that she would stay with her and keep her safe.

"Okay, finally. Where's Reid and Morgan so we can get out of here." Ashley was pulling out her phone to call one of them when Prentiss stopped her.

"Um, Seaver, I have to tell you something. I know you can't really remember what happened today, so you don't know that Reid took two bullets after he threw himself on you and tackled you to the ground. That's how you hit your head, there was a small table in the hallway and you banged your head on it as you went down."

"Wait, Reid did what?"

"Apparently the unsub went to shoot you, but Reid interfered. He got hit, he's in another room here in the hospital."

"Where is he? Emily where is he?" Ashley raised her voice.

"He's fine. Morgan texted me earlier said Reid woke up and spoke to him for awhile, but went back to sleep. He's not in pain, they've got him on meds. He got hit in the back of the shoulder and in the upper arm."

"Let's go, take me to see him."

"Okay, take it easy. We can go, but we have to be careful okay. Let's not get you too worked up, you have a head injury remember?"

Prentiss walked with Seaver to the elevator where they took it up to the floor that Reid was staying on. As they walked down the hallway to Reid's room they passed Morgan.

"Hey Seaver." Morgan looked her over. "You look like you are doing better."

"Just a little bump to the head. I'm fine. Where's Reid?"

"314, just down at the end of the hallway. Prentiss, you want to come with me for a minute I need to call Rossi and Hotch."

"Okay, but I don't know why you need my help with that."

Morgan tried to give her a look. "Just come with me." Turning to Seaver he said, "Why don't you go on ahead and see Reid? He'd like that."

* * *

Seaver stopped right outside of room 314. Looking in through the window she saw that Reid was awake and his bed was raised a bit so he was sitting up. Morgan must have found a book somewhere in the hospital because Reid was reading it quickly, turning pages with the uninjured arm. She knocked on the door frame and stepped into the doorway.

"Hey!" Spencer greeted her.

"Hi." She moved into the room.

"Heard you took quite a bump to the head. Don't stay standing, sit down, if you pass out on me I can't get you up right now." He smirked at her and she took a seat in the chair next to his bed.

"It's not a big deal. Really, I'm alright."

Reid moved his hand up to touch the bandage strip on her head, the one that was covering her stitches. "You don't look alright to me. That looks pretty bad. I'm sorry about that."

"Oh no, don't be, please you saved my life. You took two bullets without even thinking about it. I should be groveling at your feet right about now."

"no, no. No groveling please. Just as long as you're okay then I've done my job."

"You know, even though what you did saved my life, it was pretty stupid of you to take those bullets for me. Incredibly stupid."

Reid chuckled a bit. "That's something that I don't hear very often. As someone with a very high I.Q. I rarely get called stupid."

Ashley quickly checked a text message that she received on her cell phone. "Well that's what I'm calling you. What if those bullets had gone through your skull, huh? Where would we all be then?"

"If those bullets had gone through my skull that means you wouldn't have taken them, and you would still be alright, right?"

Reid watched as she nodded her head and started to respond to him. "Yeah, I suppose I would be okay, I mean…"

"Then it would have still been worth it. Like I said, as long as you're okay." Once again he reached up to her face and carefully touched her bandage.

Ashley closed her eyes at the contact, enjoying the feeling of his fingers stroking her forehead.

"Thank you, Spencer. Thank you, for saving my life."

"You're welcome. I just wish you didn't have that concussion, then I would feel a bit better."

"Like I said before, I'm fine. Really, I promise." She looked at him lying on the bed. "Besides, we should be worrying about you, you have two holes in your body. How do you feel, no pain right?"

"Oh no, lots of pain meds. I don't feel a thing, which worries me." He saw her confused face so he explained. "Remember when I told you I became addicted to Dilaudid after Tobias Hankel drugged me, well I have had issues with taking pain meds since. I don't even like taking Tylenol or Ibuprofen. I'm afraid that I'm going to become addicted again, and I don't want to be an addict."

"You won't be an addict. I promise, I won't let you continue that."

Reid just shrugged at her.

"Spencer, look at me." He turned his head to look at her. "I promise you."

"Okay."

Ashley stared at him for a few more seconds and then looked down at the bandage on his arm and shoulder. Because of the bullet wounds the doctors had removed his shirt and left him that way after they had bandaged him up. He saw her looking at him and as he looked down he realized that he was shirtless, something that he had forgotten about since she walked in. Starting to feel self conscious about being so exposed, he tried to pull the blankets on his bed up farther on his body.

"Oh, I'm sorry Reid." Ashley said as she turned her head away from him.

"No it's nothing you did. It's just that, well it's just that I'm not really Derek Morgan here. I guess you could say that I'm pretty self conscious about sitting here in front of you without a shirt on. I didn't realize it until I saw you staring at me."

"I wasn't staring, I was looking at your arm and your shoulder. Even if I was, you don't need to hide yourself. You look fine."

"Sometimes I feel inadequate, you know when you have someone like Morgan on your team. I'm probably the weakest, puniest most awkward guy that's ever worked for the F.B.I."

"I don't think you are giving yourself enough credit. You just saved my life. I think that was pretty macho of you."

"Yeah maybe."

"Hey. There are a ton of Derek Morgan's out there, but there is no one like Spencer Reid. He's pretty one of a kind."

Reid tried not to blush from her comment. She always knew how to say something that would make him feel better about himself, and to make him smile.

Ashley continued speaking to him. "Besides, not all girls are into Derek Morgans."

"They aren't?" Reid asked.

"Nah, all they do is worry about how they look, and being all strong and arrogant. Some girls like guys who are smart, and funny, and sweet, and care more about others than themselves. Besides some girls like their guys a little awkward, it shows that they are human. Some girls are into guys like Spencer Reid."

"Oh yeah, well where exactly are those girls?"

"Well, one of them is sitting right next to you." She watched as he smiled, then it was suddenly gone and he looked away from her. "Spencer, did you hear me? I like you."

"There's this thing called transference. By covering you and saving your life today, I represent a hero figure to you. You don't like me, you like what that act represents."

Ashley looked at him with a hurt look on her face. "Do YOU not like ME? Is that what this is, you just don't want to hurt my feelings?"

Reid shook his head. "That's definitely not the case."

"Just so you know I have liked you since the day I met you. When I was meeting all of you guys, everyone was great but when I met you, you were different. There was something about you that I couldn't put my finger on. We've worked together for a while now and I've got to know you and I've let you know about my life, something that not everyone gets to really hear about. I've always wanted to tell you that I was into you but I either thought you weren't as into me, or that you didn't want to have a relationship because of work. Today when you risked your life for me it got me thinking. You are so lucky those bullets went where they did. You could have died, and I could have been sitting here crying over your body instead of talking to you. I just need you to know that I like you as more than a friend, and that I've always felt that way about you. Now whatever you want to do about that is up to you."

There was a silence in the room that was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Ashley had just dropped a bomb on him. Of course he liked her like that, he always had. He had just shared that with Morgan only a few hours ago, but knowing that she liked him in the same way was something he wasn't expecting.

"So, you really aren't attracted to the Derek Morgans of the world?" Reid chuckled.

"Nope. Not even a bit." She moved off of the chair and took a seat next to him on his bed.

"Um are we going to kiss now? Because, I really want to, but I'm afraid I can't really move. Shoulder injury and all, pretty much limits my mobility."

Ashley giggled at his comment. "I'll let you off the hook. How about I come to you? Would that be okay?"

"I'd like that."

With that Ashley leaned down to him and placed her lips onto his. He was shy about it at first but after a few seconds they seemed to find their rhythm and continued kissing before Reid pulled his head away.

"We had better stop before Morgan comes back, or what about Prentiss. We don't want them to find us like this."

"Oh Morgan sent me a text that he and Prentiss were going somewhere to meet up with Hotch and Rossi, said they will be back in a few hours. He trusted that I could take care of you while they were gone."

"Well then, you want to slide on in here?" Ashley was taken aback by his forwardness. "Um, I, I just meant that, oh goodness, I just meant that these meds make me drowsy and I am really tired. If you wanted to lay here with me, while I fall asleep, I wouldn't mind. Unless you would rather stay sitting in that chair."

"Sure. I can lay down with you." She moved herself into a better position and snuggled as close to him as she could get without hurting him. "Is this okay?"

Reid looked down at her and smiled. "Yeah, this is perfect." He placed his hand from his uninjured arm on her forearm. "Maybe, when I get out of this hospital and get some mobility back in my shoulder, I can take you out, you know like on an actual date. Dinner, a movie, walk in the park, the whole nine yards. Would that be okay?"

Mimicking his earlier answer she simply said, "I'd like that."

Closing their eyes, they soon found themselves drifting off into a pleasant slumber. A few hours later they were still sleeping when Morgan returned to the hospital. He had left Prentiss back with Rossi and Hotch. Walking through the door of Reid's hospital room, he took in the scene in front of him. Reid and Seaver were both laying in Reid's bed. Reid had his good arm secured around her as much as possible and Seaver was laying her head as close as she could to Reid without actually laying her head on him. Morgan wondered what had went on in the few hours that he was away, but decided not to question it.

Morgan simply smiled at the two and quietly said, "Way to go Reid."

* * *

Yay! Finally a kiss! Let me know what you guys think of Reid and Seaver and my oneshots in a review.


	4. Chapter 4

This one shot does sort of go with the last chapter. You will see what I'm talking about when you read it. Enjoy everybody!

* * *

Ashley Seaver was standing with Derek Morgan in the small kitchen at the B.A.U. It was early in the morning and they were the first of the team there, besides Hotch who seemed to live there. Morgan was telling Ashley about his night out with J.J. and Garcia, as they had all gone out to see the newest drama in theatres. It was a flop, and Morgan would have regretted going to see it had it not been for the wonderful company of the two ladies he had gone with. As they were laughing at Morgans reenactment of a scene in the movie, Reid walked into the room.

Ashley saw him walk over to get a cup of coffee. "Good morning." She spoke to him.

"mmhmm." Reid mumbled back.

Ashley watched him pour an unhealthy amount of sugar into his cup. She noticed his hands were a bit shaky, as was his whole body. He seemed twitchy and restless. Morgan tried to greet him as well. "Hey Reid. Texted you to come out with us last night. The movie wasn't very good but Garcia, J.J. and I ended up going to this really awesome spot to see some swing dancing, you really missed out."

Reid still didn't look in their direction. "Sorry." He quickly said back.

"Well you want to go somewhere tonight? I was just telling Seaver about this cool convention that's coming into town. It's supposed to be about the history of WWII, I hear it has all these old artifacts. We thought we would go, you want to tag along?"

Reid looked up and finally turned towards the two but didn't come any closer. "You guys are going together?" Ashley noticed that his voice was low and not at all upbeat like it usually was. She saw Morgan nod next to her.

Reid took a sip of his coffee before answering. "No. No I don't want to go." He started to make his way out of the room, but before he reached the doorway he turned around to them again. His next words were spoken with a venom behind them. "But you guys have fun, you know, going together." With that he quickly exited the room.

"Reid!" Morgan called out to him, but Reid didn't turn around. Ashley just stared at Reid's back as he retreated away, quickly.

"What was that about?" Morgan asked. "You guys have some sort of fight or something?" He turned to look at Seaver.

"Not that I know of. He's been like that towards me all week. Has he said anything to you?"

"Nah not to me."

"I don't know what's up with him. I've never seen him this way."

"I've seen him this way once."

"What was going on then?"

Morgan sighed. "He was an addict."

* * *

"What was that about Reid?" Morgan said as he approached Reid at his desk.

"I don't know what you are talking about." Reid answered as he still kept his eyesight on the folder in front of him.

"I think you could have been a bit nicer back there, you were pretty rude."

"You asked if I wanted to go with you guys, I said no. I'm sorry that I have other things to do, better things than tagging along with you two on some sort of date."

"Woah, hold on Reid. Nobody said anything about a date. There is nothing going on between me and Seaver."

Reid scoffed at Morgan. "Sure."

"Reid." Morgan took the chair from his desk and moved it next to Reid to sit down. "Listen to me. Seaver is not into me like that, and I am not into her like that. Even if I were into her, I wouldn't do anything about it because I know that you really like her and I would never do that to you. You have to trust me on this Reid, I would never do anything to jeopardize your chances with her, we were only going as friends. If it were a date why would I invite you to come with?"

"I don't know, to throw it in my face. You guys just seemed pretty chummy back there." Reid put down his folder.

"Look at me Reid." Reid turned his heard to look at Morgan. "There is nothing between me and Seaver. You know that she's into you, why are you being like this?"

Reid was still turned towards Morgan, but his eyes became downcasted to the floor. "It's nothing. Don't worry about it."

"You are never like this. It's definitely something. What's going on?"

* * *

Spencer Reid walked to the round table office where he knew Ashley Seaver would be. She wasn't at her desk in the pit, more than likely because she was trying to avoid him. Her desk was catty corner to his and since he had been rude to her recently she was probably trying to keep her distance. Walking up to the room he saw her standing at the white board, writing something dealing with a case. He knocked on the door that was open to get her attention.

"Hey." He tried to smile at her as best he could. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

She looked at him but turned her attention back to the board and continued writing. "That depends, have you come here to continue yelling at me?"

"No, and I'm sorry about that. I have been rude to everyone these last few days, especially you. I know I don't exactly deserve your attention but I'm just asking for a few minutes, to explain myself. Please, Ashley."

When he said her name, she knew that she was going to give him what he wanted. She would allow him to talk with her, even though she was a bit mad at him for his recent behavior.

"Okay. We can talk." She put the marker back on the board and took a seat at the table. Reid shut the door to the room and closed the blinds. She could tell that this was a pretty private conversation.

Reid sat down next to her and sighed. "I need to first apologize to you. The way I've spoken to you this week and the things I've said, you don't deserve that. I'm sorry."

"Well I accept your apology, but can you tell me why you treated me that way? You've never been that way towards me before, and it kind of scares me. I can tell that something is wrong. I didn't want to ask because I didn't know if that would be too forward."

She noticed that Reid wasn't exactly looking at her and he wasn't responding to her question. She watched as he cautiously rolled his shoulder a bit. The shoulder that had taken a bullet almost two weeks ago when he had used himself to shield her. She wondered if that was it. "Is it your shoulder? Is that the issue?"

He answered in a small voice. "Partly."

"Are you in pain?" She saw him nod his head. "Spencer, they gave you that medication for the pain. They told you that you needed to take them for the next few weeks. Has it not been helping?"

He didn't answer her. He just hung his head and waited for her to make the connection.

"You haven't been taking the medication, have you?"

"No, Ashley I haven't."

"Okay. Then I don't understand. Explain it to me."

"I told you, I don't want to become addicted again."

"But the doctor gave you this medication because they knew that you would be in a lot of pain after being shot. You wouldn't be abusing a drug in this case, you would be using pain medications the way they are intended to be used."

"After I finish these meds, I knew that I would want more of them. I don't want to even get started on them because of that. I know that you can't understand that because you've never been there, but I have. This whole week since I've been out of the hospital and off of those pain meds, I've been having withdrawel symptoms. I'm shaky, restless, moody; I've literally been itching for the drugs. I can't possibly take them, and I'm just trying to deal with these symptoms until they pass. They will pass, and I will become a nicer person again, I promise you."

"Didn't you say that you had a support group that you used to go to? You know, after you were an addict?"

"Yeah, but that was a long time ago, I haven't been in ages."

"Do they still meet?"

"Yeah every Sunday afternoon."

"Okay then. This Sunday we are going to go."

"What do you mean 'we'?"

"I am going to go with you. I'm your support, and I'm going to go to the support meeting with you. It might just be what you need to kick the itch. It couldn't hurt right?"

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt. Are you sure you want to go though, I'm sure there are way better things you could be doing with your Sunday."

"Spencer. Remember what I told you in the hospital. I'm not going to let you become an addict again. I'm going to help you, and I'm going to be there for you. Now if you don't want me to go, I won't go, but if you want someone there with you for support, I'm willing to be that person."

She looked at him with a questioning look, silently asking if he wanted her to go. Reid smiled at her and gave her an answer. "I would appreciate it, if you would come with me."

"Well then Sunday afternoon, it's a date."

"Thanks, Ashley. I owe you one."

"You don't owe me anything. Just pay me back by not becoming an addict, okay?" She reached forward to give him a hug. After they split apart he stood up to open the door. He turned around as he heard her speak to him again. "Oh and Spence? You're still welcome to come to the WWII convention with Morgan and me, if you want."

Reid thought about it for a few seconds. He decided that being around others, especially her, might help him fight the itch to use again. With the excitement of going to a group session with Ashley on Sunday, he felt better already about his situation. Also, he thought he might man up and show Morgan that he wasn't going to be afraid of losing his girl to him. Smiling at her he simply told her, "I'm in."

* * *

Sorry this one was a bit shorter. Hopefully the next couple will be longer for you guys. Please review!


	5. Chapter 5

The 5th oneshot is up! I like the idea of this one, I hope you guys do too.

* * *

It was late. Too late. They had all returned from a case later than expected and Reid, Seaver, and Morgan were finishing up some paperwork. The rest of the team had gone home and would come in early to finish up, but these three had decided to get it done now.

"I would much rather stay up late and finish this stuff, rather than wake up early and come in to finish." Morgan had expressed his opinion as he sat at his desk.

"Yeah I know." Ashley Seaver agreed with him. "I'm much more a night owl than a morning person. It's hard enough for me to get up at the usual time."

"This has been one rough week I'll tell you that. Any time that I have to punch somebody out, I hate that. It messes up my hand, and that's just not right."

Seaver and Reid laughed at Morgan. He always had to knock people out and every time he made a joke about it. It was pretty much protocol by now.

"I want to get home. I need my beauty sleep. Good looks like mine don't come without a price you know." Morgan chuckled at his own joke.

"Reid, next time remind me that late at night Morgan becomes completely self absorbed so that I will choose not to sit next to him and finish paperwork." Seaver said as she gave Morgan a look.

"How rude, Seaver. I don't need to sit here and take that." Morgan joked as he stapled his papers and filed them into a manila envelope. "I'm out of here." He stood up with a smile on his face. Grabbing his jacket he said goodnight to the pair and was off into the night.

"Well I'm pretty much finished too, how about you?" Reid looked up at her to see her answer to his question.

"Almost, probably 5 more minutes."

Reid stapled his papers and put them in a manila envelope. He remained seated and fiddled with his pen. Ashley looked up to look at him.

"Aren't you going to leave, you're done with your paperwork."

"I'll wait for you to get done."

"Are you sure? I'll be okay."

"I would feel better if I just waited. I don't want to leave you here by yourself in the dark. What kind of a gentleman would I be if I didn't make sure you got home alright?"

"Well thanks, I won't be long."

"I'm just going to the kitchen real fast. I left a coffee mug in there a few days ago and I really want to get it back before someone else takes it." He stood up and started walking to the kitchen.

Ashley was completing the last few lines on her paperwork. She gathered all of the items she needed and went to staple them. What a perfect time to be out of staples. Looking into her desk, she didn't see anymore. She must have been out. Being this late at night the supply office was already locked, so she couldn't get any new ones.

"Hey Reid!" She called out to the kitchen. "I'm out of staples, do you have any I could have?"

"Yeah!" She heard him call back to her. "Left side of my desk, second drawer."

"Thanks!" She called out to him again.

Moving over to Reids desk, she opened the second drawer on the left hand side. It was a mess in there, as Reid's drawers weren't very organized. She couldn't see a box of staples so she started to dig. He had a few old newspapers with headlines of some of their big cases sitting on the top. On the side in the drawer was a book, probably one his mother sent him to read. Moving aside some spare computer paper she saw something that caught her eye. When she lifted the paper all of the way, she found a tabloid magazine. On the cover was Reid, and some girl that she didn't recognize. She found it weird that the girl on the cover looked strangely similar to her. From the headline she saw that the girl's name was Lila Archer, and apparently the magazine thought she and Spencer were some sort of item. She saw the date on the tabloid and noticed that it was quite some time ago, but wondered why Reid would still have it in his drawer. Was he keeping it for some reason? Did he still have contact with this woman, or feelings for her? She didn't quite know what to think about it. Quickly she had to put it away and grab the staples as she heard Reid coming back from the kitchen.

Stapling her papers and putting them in the envelope, she filed them away. She knew she shouldn't feel bad about seeing that magazine, she and Reid weren't exactly together. They had feelings for each other sure, that much had been clear, and they enjoyed having chats on the plane and through text messages after they went home at night, but they weren't anything official. They hadn't even gone out on an official date or anything, so she didn't feel right feeling jealousy, but that was what she felt. Did Reid only like talking to her and hanging out with her because she reminded him of that model/actress? She was sure she wasn't going to get any sleep tonight.

"All set?" Reid asked her.

"Um, yeah. Let's go."

* * *

Usually Ashley would take the bus home. There was a route that ran all night that came fairly close enough to her house that she could just take it to the end of the line and then walk the rest of the way. Reid however wasn't having it. He had driven to work when they left for the case so he was fortunate to be able to drive home. He told her that she could have a lift. He mentioned to her that he could never let her take the bus home and walk at night when he was driving home. How could he justify that, especially if anything had happened to her?

So here she was, sitting in the passenger seat of Reid's 2010 Honda Civic. It was fairly new being only a few years old, one of the only things Reid really splurged on. She was spending most of her time looking out of the window, hoping that if she didn't make eye contact, he wouldn't expect her to talk. She didn't know what to say to him, and she was worried that if she even tried to have a conversation it would only lead to the questions running through her mind. She thought it best to just keep her mouth shut.

"You okay over there?" Reid asked her.

She wanted to keep her mouth shut so she just mumbled back a "mmhmm."

"I know, I'm tired too. If you want I can pick you up tomorrow to go to work, that way you can sleep in a little bit longer since you wont have to catch the bus."

She tried to nod her head, but he wasn't looking at her as his eyes were on the road. She was forced to answer him verbally. Cautiously she said, "Sure. That would be nice."

"Okay. I'll send you a text before I leave my house so that you know you have about 15 minutes until you have to be ready." Reid sent her a smile.

Looking at him, and seeing him smile at her broke her reserve. "Who's Lila?" So much for keeping quiet.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" He wasn't sure if his ears had heard her correctly.

"Lila. Who is she?"

Reid pursed his lips together before answering. "How do you know about her?"

"Left side of your desk, second drawer. I saw the tabloid magazine when I was getting the staples." It remained silent for awhile, so she broke the silence again. "So who is she?"

"Lila is a model/actress from L.A. She had a stalker that was killing other people to help Lila's fame. We tried to find the stalker to stop the killings and to keep Lila safe. We found the stalker and Lila was fine, and we returned home."

"I could have figured that out by going through the case file. I want to know who she is to YOU."

"Lila's…a friend, I guess. I haven't talked to her in ages."

"Did you guys have some sort of thing for one another?"

"Not really."

Seaver sighed. "The tabloids seem to think you did."

Reid sunk further into his seat. "Okay, you want the truth? I'm not sure what we were. We were only there for a short period of time, a couple of days at most. We were there to keep her safe. I'll be honest, she's a beautiful girl, and I enjoyed our conversations. Apparently she found me attractive too, because she ended up kissing me in her pool. We said that if we ever weren't all of the way across the country from one another that we would give each other a call, but that never happened. This job keeps me busy, and so does hers. She probably doesn't even remember me, it's been so long since that happened."

"Do you ever think about her still? Wish that you were closer so you could be with her?"

"What?" Reid looked at Ashley, wondering where she was going with this conversation. "I haven't thought about Lila in a long time actually. I forgot about that magazine even being in that drawer, because that's how long it's been since I've even looked at it."

Reid pulled the car into the driveway of Ashley's home. Putting the car in park, he turned the key in the ignition to turn the car off. He took his seatbelt off so he could turn more towards her. "You know there is nothing going on between me and that girl, right?"

"But do you want there to be something?"

"Not at all. Like I said, we only really knew each other for a few days, and it was a long time ago. Why are you so interested in this?"

"I'm not really sure, it just seems like it must have been important to you. You did keep the tabloid after all."

"Back then, it was sort of important. It's not everyday a girl shows interest in a guy like me, especially a famous model in Hollywood. It was kind of cool to be on a tabloid. I felt important, and so I kept the magazine. Now though, I have a lot more confidence and I don't need to dwell on that part of my life."

Ashley nodded at his statement. "So are blondes your thing? You seem to have a bit of a pattern, Lila, J.J., …me. Is it just the hair that you are into?"

"If I were into the hair, I would forgo the woman and just buy a wig to cuddle with at night."

Ashley laughed at this. "But seriously, are you only into girls if they are blonde?"

"No. It just so happens that the girls I've been into have been blonde. Like you, I would be into you if you had blonde hair, or brown, or red, or green, or rainbow."

They shared a smile as they chuckled at his joke.

"So you ARE into me, right?" She asked.

"Was that ever a question?" She gave him a bit of a confused look. "I'm actually VERY into you."

"Well if you are so into me, maybe we should go out sometime."

"I would love to go out sometime with you. How about this Friday, after we are done at work, we can go get some dinner, just the two of us. No inviting the others, just you, me, and a plate of Italian food."

"How do you know that Italian is my favorite?"

"You get excited whenever Rossi takes us to Italian restaurants."

"Oh, does it show, my love for Lasagna? I can't believe you picked up on that."

"I'm pretty observant. It kind of comes along with having a high I.Q."

"Well, I had better get inside and go to bed. You still have another 15 minutes to drive home."

"Yeah, I guess I should be getting home. I'll see you in the morning?"

"Yeah." Ashley opened the door and got out of the car. She turned around before she closed the door. "Thank you for the ride. Goodnight, Spencer."

"Goodnight, Ashley."

* * *

The next day at work, Reid was sitting at his desk while all of the others were around the B.A.U. He took this opportunity to open up the second drawer on the left side of his desk. Digging under the massive amounts of stuff he had in there, he found the tabloid magazine he had placed there many years ago. Pulling it out he sat it on his desk and stared at it. There he was, on the cover, with Lila. At the time, she had been important to him, and he had cared about her. Now however, he realized that she was just a part of his past. They hadn't had any contact since then, and she had only known him for a few days. What did Lila really know about him anyway? She didn't know him, and she had no desire to know him otherwise she would have contacted him. Ashley knew him; she cared to listen about his life and he knew that she really cared about him as a person. Lila was his past, Ashley was his present and if he was honest with himself, he hoped she was in his future.

Picking up the magazine and giving it one last look, he threw it into his trashcan under his desk. When the custodian came by after lunch and emptied his trash, Lila would be gone from his life, and for that Reid actually felt relieved.

* * *

I always wondered if Reid ever got rid of that magazine after some time. I think it was about time he do away with it. There isn't too much reason for him to keep it now. Hope you guys enjoyed! Let me know in a review.


	6. Chapter 6

So sorry that it's been a month since I've updated. I got a new job and I've been so busy with getting comfortable there and working quite a lot, but now that I've been able to slow down, hopefully I can write a bit more often. Unless the holidays get in my way...sigh. Well, no matter, I hope you all enjoy this one.

* * *

Ashley Seaver stood in front of her mirror. She was wearing a plain black dress with slight heels. She had curled her hair just a bit and had applied just a hint of lip gloss to her lips. You may be wondering why she is getting dressed up. Well tonight, Ashley Seaver had a date with Spencer Reid. Their first date, although she wasn't sure you could call it a first date until you knew that there would be a second date. What if there was only one date? Either way she was nervous. She knew that she had no reason to be, because it was just Spencer, someone who she had always been comfortable with. But now that this was a date, that changed things. She wanted him to see her as beautiful, and intelligent, and appealing, because she wanted him to see her as more than just his good friend. She already knew that he was interested, otherwise he wouldn't have asked her on this date, but she was still nervous no matter what.

So now she was here, staring at herself in the mirror. Looking at her clock on her bedside table, she noticed that Spencer was supposed to have been at her house to pick her up about 7 minutes ago. He was late. That 7 minutes probably wasn't a big deal, but unfortunately for a first date it seemed major to her. It had all sorts of thoughts going through her head, like "Maybe he's late because he's having second thoughts, or what if he's not going to show up and I got ready for nothing."

"Stop it Ashley, it's ridiculous to think that. This is Spencer, he wouldn't do that to you." She spoke to the mirror image of herself.

Just as she finished saying that, she heard the doorbell ring. She knew that it was him, and she quickly let out a breath she didn't know that she was holding in. Walking to the door she first looked through the peephole to make sure it was really Spencer. She used to just open the door when she was expecting him, but he would often tell her that she should always check first to make sure, for her safety. So now, to appease him, and a bit for herself, she would look first.

"Hi, Spencer." Ashley said to him as she opened the door. He was standing there with flowers in his hand.

"Hello. I'm sorry that I'm late. I went to pick up flowers for you before I came over, but the first store didn't have any of the ones you really like, so I had to go somewhere else. I hope it's alright."

"Oh no. It's alright. Thank you for the flowers. I love crazy daisies."

"Yeah I remember you had mentioned it before."

"I'm going to go put these in water and then we can go alright? Come on in."

"Thanks."

As Ashley walked into the kitchen to place the flowers into the vase, Spencer took a seat on her couch. He noticed a stack of mail laying on the coffee table in front of him and saw the letter laying on the top of the stack. The mail had been left unopened. As she walked into the living room, Spencer looked at her.

"This months letter came then huh?"

"Yeah it did. I haven't yet put it in the huge pile with the other ones."

He would have asked her if maybe she changed her mind about reading them, but he didn't want to push his luck. It was their first date, and was supposed to be a fun night. He didn't want to make her upset before they even left the house.

"Okay, well shall we head out? You still up for Italian?"

She laughed. "I'm always up for Italian."

* * *

"So you want to get a cat? Why a cat?" Spencer asked her. They were sitting at the table in the Italian restaurant in town, eating identical lagasnas.

"Well I never could have a pet as a kid, remember? I've always wanted one. I like both dogs and cats, but with being away so much for work I think a cat would be more logical. Cats can entertain themselves, and they can use the litterbox for a few days, and as long as you leave enough food for them to eat from it should be fine. And I could always have my neighbor Mrs. Anders come and check on the cat when I'm gone. She's older and lives by herself, it would give her something to do from time to time."

"Well sounds like you are getting a cat soon then. What kind do you want to get?"

"I was thinking about one of those cats without a tail. I think it's called a bobtail cat or something similar to that, I'll have to check."

"Wait, there are cats without tails? I had no knowledge of this which is weird because I have knowledge of everything."

"I thought it might be neat. It's cute. You want to help me find one? I'll probably have to find one online and travel to go get it."

"Yeah I'm up for finding a kitten with no tail." Spencer chuckled.

"Okay, yay! I'm excited now."

"Well I hope we find you a really sweet adorable kitten to keep you company."

"Do you ever think about getting a pet, Spence?"

"Sure someday. Probably after I start living with the girl I want to marry. You know, get a dog together."

"Dogs are great."

"Yeah they are." Spencer agreed. "I know right now though that I couldn't get one just because I'm always away for work. I wouldn't want to leave the dog with someone for that long."

"I know what you mean." Ashley took another drink from her sangria. "Oh hey, Spence. I forgot to tell you, Emily told me the other day that she wants to have a Christmas party with all of us sometime in the next few weeks."

"Oh yeah, Morgan mentioned it to me. She did one last year, but we always have to wait until we know if we have a case or not before we schedule it. Just have a gift ready because it could come about any time."

"I have the perfect idea for a white elephant gift. I'll go out tomorrow to get it, so that I'll have it ready."

"Can I know what it is?" Spencer asked her.

"No sir, you cannot, because you might be the one who ends up with it."

"Okay, you have a point." Spencer placed his fork down. "You want any dessert?"

"You know, I have some leftover dessert in the fridge at home, how about we save some money here and go back to my place. We can eat dessert there."

"Are you sure, I don't mind paying for it. They have great cheesecake."

"Spencer, do you have no faith in my cooking skills? Trust me, my desserts are just as good, and free."

"Alright then. I'll get the check and then we can head back to your place.

* * *

"You get the dessert, I'll use your computer to start looking for your kitten." Spencer said as they made their way into her house.

"Sure thing. You like whipped cream or no?"

"Oh I love whipped cream. Extra whipped cream for me please."

Ashley disappeared into the kitchen and spencer pulled out her laptop and started to search for a kitten. It was hard to find a cat with no tail. At least one that was close enough that they could go and get it.

"Here you go Spence. Chocolate pie with extra whipped cream. What are you doing?" She asked as she entered the living room seeing him on the computer.

"I'm looking for your kitten. I found a woman online that had a litter, but she only has one left."

"Is it a girl, I'm kind of partial to girl cats."

"Um…yeah she says the one she has still is a girl. It's two hours away, so it wouldn't be too bad for you to pick it up. I'll copy and paste her number so that you can call her."

"Well it's a little late to call her tonight. I'll have to wait until the morning."

"Okay. I'll take my piece of pie now."

"Here you go, sir. One piece of Ashley's famous chocolate pie, with extra whip."

After they had dessert, they had remained sitting on the couch chatting about some things going on at work.

"How is it that even when we aren't at work, we still end up talking about work?" Ashley laughed.

"Well they own our souls don't you know? They drill so much stuff into our brain while we are there, so that when we go home we can't think about anything else."

"I wouldn't doubt that. Do you want any seconds on dessert?" She asked as she stood up from the couch.

"Oh no, I shouldn't. I actually should be getting home."

"Oh, sure. I suppose it is pretty late."

"Yeah." He stood up as well.

"Thank you Spencer, for tonight. I really enjoyed dinner, and spending time with you."

"You're welcome. I enjoyed it as well. Does that mean we can do it again sometime?"

"Of course. Soon I hope."

"Yeah, real soon."

Spencer was standing really close to her. He wasn't sure what to do. It was the first date, so does he kiss her or does he not kiss her. He wanted to kiss her, but would that be too forward. They've already kissed once before in the hospital after he took those bullets for her, but they shared a near death experience, so that was alright. Now however, they were both in a normal state of mind and he wasn't sure if he was allowed to kiss her. He didn't want to be rejected if he did try, but didn't want her to feel hurt if he didn't try.

"Um, is it alright if I give you a kiss goodnight?" Spencer asked her.

"If you want to, sure." She answered him.

"Well I don't want to force you. I only want to kiss you if you want to kiss me. I would never want you to be uncomfortable."

Ashley laughed. "Spencer. I promise that I want you to kiss me. I won't be uncomfortable."

"Well if you are sure. Last chance to back out."

"Spencer. Shut up, and kiss me."

"Yes, ma'am." He smiled.

He leaned down to her to place a loving kiss on her lips. He was only going to give her one, but it turned into a handful of kisses. As they pulled apart, they both had huge grins on their faces.

"Well you had better get going. Will you text me when you get home so that I know you are safe?" She asked.

"Of course I will." He placed a quick kiss on her cheek. "I'll see you tomorrow at work alright? Goodnight Ashley."

"Goodnight Spencer."

* * *

The next day at work Spencer walked in to his desk. He noticed Morgan was away in the kitchen area getting a coffee, and Emily was busy talking to Hotch. Ashley was sitting at her desk, staring at her screen, looking sad.

"Hey Ash, why the long face?" He asked as he set his bag down.

"Oh I called that lady this morning about the kitten. No luck, she says that someone else already called her and claimed the kitten."

"I'm sorry. I know you really want that kitten."

"I guess I'll just have to keep looking."

Hotch walked over to Reid. "Hey, Reid. Good morning. I thought about it, and it should be fine if you need to leave after lunch today."

"Thanks Hotch. I appreciate it, I wouldn't usually ask but I have something that came up short notice."

"Well you're welcome." Hotch looked at Ashley. "Morning, Seaver."

"Good morning, sir."

"Meet in the round table room in 15 please." He addressed the two, and they nodded.

Seaver looked to Reid. "You're leaving after lunch today? Is everything okay? Is it your mom?"

"Oh no. Mom's fine. It's just something I need to take care of."

* * *

Ashley Seaver walked into her house and set down her purse and other items from work. She walked into the kitchen to get a glass of water, and then she heard her cell phone ringing. It was in her purse so she had to run into the living room to retrieve it. Picking up the phone she checked the caller I.D. before answering.

"Hey Spencer!"

"Hey, Ashley. Are you home from work yet?"

"Yeah just got home. Why?"

"I'm coming over to your place in a few minutes then. I have something for you."

"Um, alright? What is it?"

"Well, I'm not going to tell you Ash. It's a surprise."

"Okay, well then I will be here waiting for you."

15 minutes later, Spencer arrived at Ashley's place with the surprise. He rang the doorbell and she answered the door.

"Okay Spencer, what is this surprise?"

"First, go and sit on the couch. Then close your eyes."

"Okay, okay."

Spencer ran back to his car to retrieve the surprise. Coming back to the door he yelled through the house. "Are your eyes closed?"

"Yes, they're closed. Now come on Spencer, what is this surprise."

Spencer walked in front of her. "Okay, open your eyes."

Ashley opened her eyes to see Spencer standing in front of her, holding a small kitten with no tail. "Oh my goodness. Spencer, what is this?"

"This is your bobtail kitten."

"Where did you find another one? It was hard enough finding that first one."

"This IS the first one."

"YOU'RE the one that claimed the cat before I could?"

"Yep." Spencer handed the kitten over to her. "I called last night when I went home and told her I wanted to pick it up today. I figured it would be a nice surprise."

"So that's why you left work early today. Something came up short notice huh?"

"Yep, I wanted to go get her before you found another one."

"But wait, Spence. This kitten was $50 dollars. I'll pay you back tomorrow."

"Oh no, don't worry about it. Consider it an early Christmas gift."

"I couldn't do that Spencer. That's way too much for a Christmas gift."

"Please. Just accept the gift. No need to pay me back. Just enjoy your kitten, and name me as the god parent." He chuckled.

"This is the best gift ever Spencer, thank you so much." Ashley stood up from the couch and moved to be in front of him. Reaching up she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him.

"Oh gosh, Spence, I'm sorry." She said as she pulled away from him.

"I'm not. If I'm going to get a kiss like that every time I give you a kitten, then you are about to become the crazy cat lady."

"You're funny." She sat back down on the couch with her new kitten. "Can I ask you something though?"

"Sure."

"What are we, Spencer?"

"I'm not sure what you mean by that."

"What are we, to each other."

"Well, I really like you, and I hope you really like me."

"I do really like you, Spence."

"Okay, so we both really like each other. And we've been out on a date. We enjoy each other's company."

"Are we boyfriend and girlfriend?"

"Well, I really want to be, but it's still too early I think. Let's enjoy each others company, and go on a few more dates. I don't want to rush things with you, Ashley. I really want things to work with you, and I'm afraid to rush it."

"Sounds like a deal to me. No rushing. I really want things to work with you too."

"So what are you going to name your new kitten?"

"I'm not sure what to name her. You want to stay for a little while and help me come up with ideas?"

"I would love to."

* * *

Thank you guys for continuing to read this story. I really appreciate all of the reviews and follows I've gotten recently. You are all great!


	7. Chapter 7

I waited for 4 hours today at the auto dealership today, because they were fixing my car. So I had a good amount of time to write this story. I'm not sure I can call these one shots anymore. I don't know. They are sort of going in order, I haven't been jumping around all over the place, but I'm not writing a sequence such as "3 months later, or a few weeks after". However, they do all go together. I don't know what to call this thing. Just things that come to my mind, I suppose. Any way you look at it, I hope you enjoy reading it.

* * *

"Hello. Don't you look beautiful tonight?" Spencer greeted Ashley as he walked into her house.

"Well it is a Christmas party, you are supposed to look nice. You look great as well good sir."

The two were getting ready to go to Prentiss' annual Christmas party. Spencer was looking spiffy in his dress pants and red button down dress shirt. Ashley chose to wear a teal colored dress that she looked amazing in.

"You like it?" Ashley asked him.

"Of course."

"Does it look good?"

"Maybe a little too good? I'm not sure I want you going out wearing that, all of the other guys will be staring at you." Spencer pouted.

"That doesn't matter. Just as long as one particular guy is staring at me." She gave him a sly smile.

"Oh trust me, I don't think he will be able to take his eyes off of you all night."

"Quit. You are making me blush. And you had better not stare at me the whole time or people are going to start figuring out what's going on with us. I thought we didn't exactly want them knowing that we are going on dates."

"Well, Morgan and Prentiss already know that we have feelings for each other. I think they know it's only a matter of time."

"What about Hotch?"

"How about this," Reid moved to sit on the couch. "We don't come out and tell anyone, but if they figure it out on their own then we be honest. It will be alright."

"Okay." She agreed. "I can deal with that."

"Well then are you ready to go?"

"Yes I am. Are we riding together, or separately?"

"I have no problem driving us in my car." Spencer offered.

"Alright. Before we go though, can I ask you for something?"

"Of course, what is it?"

"A kiss, please?"

"Oh my dear lady, I would be most happy to oblige." Spencer said as he leaned in to kiss her before leaving for the party."

* * *

A few hours into the party at Emily's house, and everyone was having a good time. Hotch, Rossi, and J.J. were hanging out in the kitchen by the food. Emily was beginning to put a Christmas movie onto her large T.V. and Ashley was on the couch chatting with her. Morgan and Reid were refilling their holiday punch in the den.

"So Reid, you and Seaver. How is that going?"

"Well let's just say that I can't tell you anything."

"You can't tell me anything? Come on Reid, I'm like your best friend."

"Morgan, I can't tell you anything. If you were to guess something however, then I can't exactly deny things that are true can I?"

Morgan smiled. "Okay then, I get it. So are you guys together, like in a relationship?"

"That I can deny. We are not in a relationship."

"You've taken her out on a date however, right?"

"That I have, Morgan. I have taken her out on a date."

"You had a good time, didn't you guys?"

"Oh yes, it was a wonderful time."

"Are there more wonderful times to come?"

"We would like for there to be more wonderful times, definitely."

"Did you get her a Christmas gift, a personal gift?"

"I did get her a Christmas gift."

"You realize this whole guessing thing with you pretty much repeating what I said is ridiculous right?"

"I do realize it is ridiculous, yes."

"Okay, just as long as you acknowledge that." Morgan refilled his punch. "So you guys are seeing each other, going on dates, you bought her a Christmas gift, but you are not together."

"That is correct."

"I am willing to bet that by the new year, you two will be officially in a relationship."

"We will see, Morgan. I wouldn't hold your breath though, because we said we don't want to rush things."

"Okay then, we will see. But you two haven't been able to keep your eyes off of each other all night. I don't think you two will be able to resist each other much longer."

"Morgan! That is so inappropriate." Reid turned his head away.

"Come on man, you know I don't mean it like that. I just mean that you guys obviously have a huge connection. It's pretty strong, so you won't be able to fight it much longer."

"Yeah I know. But I'm not ready to be together until she's ready."

"Understandable."

A few hours afterwards, everyone had enough food and fun to last them through the holiday. They were all tired and were starting to trickle out of Emily's home. Spencer and Ashley left together and headed back for her place. Walking inside they took off their coats and shoes, and collapsed on the couch.

"Oh man, I should not have drank all of that holiday punch." Ashley whined as she held her head in her hands. "Holy Headache, Batman."

"Well I'll give you the second part of your gift now then, so that I can get out of here and leave you alone to go to bed."

"Second part of my gift? Spencer, the kitten was enough. Honestly I can't take it."

"Calm down. It's only a card. Not expensive at all. Here, take it. You don't have to read it now. In fact save it for Christmas Eve. I'm still able to come over and spend Christmas Eve with you right?"

"Of course you are. I'm looking forward to it. That's when I'm giving you my gift so you had better come over or you wont get it."

"Don't worry. I wouldn't miss it." Spencer stood up from the couch. "I'm going to head home. Go climb into bed okay, get some rest."

"Goodnight Spencer." She reached up to kiss him.

"Goodnight, Ashley."

* * *

Seaver was picking up some clothes off of her bedroom floor. It was Christmas Eve and she was trying to clean up a bit since Reid was coming over to spend the holiday with her. She didn't really have too much family, and neither did he, so they decided they would rather spend the night together rather than alone. Her cell phone rang as she was folding up a towel that she had picked up off of her chair. Looking at the caller I.D. she saw that it was Spencer, so she picked up.

"Hey Spencer, where are you?"

"Hey. I'm sorry that I'm not there yet. I got a call from one of the nurses at the facility that my mom is in. She's been having some really bad days, and they are considering changing her medication as soon as possible. I am going to have to talk to a few people on the phone and get her insurance straightened out for this new medication, so it may be another hour before I'm able to get there. I'm so sorry."

"Oh no, don't be sorry. She's your mother, Spencer, she's important. Take care of what you need to take care of and when you are able to get here, then you get here. We have all night, so plenty of time, no rushing."

"Alright I'll see you in a little while then. In the meantime Ash, go ahead and read my card. Don't wait for me okay?"

"Sure, I'll read it. I'm real excited for tonight, I can't wait to see you."

"I fee the same way. I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Bye, Spencer."

"Bye Ashley."

She threw her phone on the bed. She knew it wasn't his fault that he had to take care of his mothers affairs, but she couldn't help feel saddened that he was going to be late. Walking to her front door, she looked outside. It had started to snow. She unlocked her door so that when Spencer arrived he could walk right on in, instead of standing out in the cold waiting for her. She went to her living room where she had left his card on the table. He told her to open it, so she started to undo the envelope.

Opening the card, she began to read:

"Dear Ashley,

I can only hope that you know how much I care for you. These past few months working and being with you all of the time have been some really enjoyable times for me. I hope that they have been just as enjoyable for you. I know we said no rushing things, but I would like to ask you to be my girlfriend. You are such a beautiful, intelligent, and incredibly wonderful person and I want nothing more than to be with you. Don't feel obligated to say yes, because if you don't want to then I respect that."

Ashley chuckled as she could imagine Spencer writing this, being all nervous and trying to be respectful as he wrote down what he wanted to ask her. She continued to read.

"However, if you do want to, then that would be amazing. I would be the luckiest guy in the world. I love how I feel when I am with you, and I want to be able to kiss you whenever I want to, and I want to be able to hold your hand as we walk down the street. I want to be able to tell you how I feel about you, because I love you Ashley. Merry Christmas.

Love, Dr. Spencer Reid."

The smile on Ashley's face was huge. Spencer Reid loved her, and he wanted her to be his girlfriend. She knew they said no rushing, but with the way they felt towards each other, it didn't feel like rushing. She would of course tell him yes, when he showed up at her house tonight. You couldn't get the smile off of her face, she was so excited. She set the card up on her couchside table so that it was displayed.

For 15 minutes she went around her house, making sure it was cleaned and smelled nice. She went into the kitchen to get some off the snacks out on the counter. As she was in there, washing out a bowl to put the chocolate covered pretzels in, she heard the front door open.

"Come on in, Spence. I'm in the kitchen, getting some snacks."

He didn't answer back, so she assumed he was hanging his coat up and taking off his shoes at the front door.

"You're here earlier than I thought you would be. I thought you said it would be at least an hour before you would be finished talking to everyone about your mom. I'm glad you're here though."

There was still no answer.

"Spencer?" Ashley called through the house.

No answer. She walked into the living room with her bowl of pretzels to see what was going on. There was no one in the living room. Perhaps he had gone to the restroom, but she didn't hear anyone in the bathroom. She went to her door to peak through the window, and when she looked outside she could still see the snow coming down by the streetlights. It was dark for the most part now, and she reached over to lock the door. Turning around she didn't expect to see who she saw in her house. Ashley gasped as she saw a man who she didn't recognize standing in front of her, with a gun that she did recognize.

"Don't move." The man spoke to her. He had short brown hair, and wasn't too muscular. He wouldn't have seemed too threatening to her had it not been for the hunk of metal that he was holding in his hands. She looked quickly at the table next to her couch where her gun was last sitting. It wasn't there anymore, for the man had it pointed at her head.

"Okay. Let's just put the gun down and talk about whatever it is that you want. You want anything in my house, you go ahead and take it, okay? You can have everything if you wanted. I'll even help you load it out of here."

"I don't want the stuff, sweetheart."

* * *

"Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, jingle all the way…"

Spencer was finally driving over to Ashley's house for Christmas Eve, and he was listening to a Christmas station on the radio to get in the spirit. He was on the phone for over an hour with people working with his mother. Finally they all agreed on the right thing for her, and he was able to enjoy the rest of his night with the girl he loved.

Pulling into her driveway he saw that her lights were on so she was more than likely in the living room. He got out of the car and went to ring the doorbell. There was no answer, so he rang it again. She may have been in the restroom, or was in the back and hadn't heard it the first time. But when she didn't show up at the door a second time, he reached for the handle himself. The door opened with ease, so it hadn't been locked, which he thought was unusual. Walking into the house he called out to her.

"Ashley!"

No answer.

"Hello. Ashley?!"

Still no answer. Walking into the foyer, he saw her kitten walk close to him.

"Hey, Izzie. Where's your momma?" He leaned down to pick up the kitten.

Walking into the living room he noticed the table on the side of the couch. On it was her purse, her keys, and her F.B.I. badge. Next to that was the card that he had given her the other night. She had read it. He smiled to himself until he saw that in front of the couch was a bowl lying on the floor, and scattered around the carpet was a bunch of chocolate covered pretzels. She wouldn't just leave those on the floor. He called her name again and started to move around the house. He couldn't find her in any of the rooms. He tried to call her cell phone, which he would assume to be in her purse or on her person. No one answered. He decided that he needed to take action. She wouldn't leave the door unlocked. She wouldn't leave those pretzels on the floor, and how did they even get there. She also would have been home because she was expecting him and she was excited to spend the evening with him. If she were leaving the house she would have called him. Something wasn't right.

He decided to pull out his cell and dial 911.

"Hello, my name is Dr. Spencer Reid. I came over to my girlfriends house, and she's not here. She was expecting me, and when I got here her door was unlocked, and there are snacks all over the floor, and she isn't anywhere in the house. She's not answering her phone, she's missing."

* * *

"Hello?"

"Morgan, I know it's Christmas Eve and I'm sorry to bother you, but have you heard from Ashley today? Did she mention anything to you about going somewhere tonight?"

"No Reid I haven't talked to her since we were at work. Is everything okay?"

"No it's not. We were supposed to get together at her house tonight for Christmas Eve, but I told her I would be a little late. When I got here her door was unlocked, the lights were on, but she wasn't here. She's not answering her phone, and there are a bunch of snacks spilled in the living room."

"Well maybe she had to leave in a hurry and didn't have time to pick it up until she got back."

"I don't think so. She said she was getting ready for tonight and that she was waiting for me to get here. She wouldn't have left. Morgan there's something else. I can't find her gun."

"Okay Reid. Have you called the police?"

"Yeah, they are on their way. I'm really worried Morgan, I don't know where she is, or what has happened to her."

"Calm down Reid, I'll be right there. Just sit tight and wait for me and the police to get there."

After about 10 minutes Morgan showed up at Seaver's home where Reid was inside sitting on the couch, talking to the police. He was recalling the story of what happened when he arrived.

"Reid!"

"Morgan!"

"Any news?"

"The police are going to put the word out to everyone to be on the lookout, but I honestly think that if we want to find her, we need to take it into our own hands."

"Okay, lets think about this. She left the door unlocked probably because she knew you were on your way, so someone could have come in through the front door. Or maybe it was locked but they used a spare key under a flower pot or something."

"No, she only has a spare key in the back and it only works on the back door. It was locked when I got here. If someone came in it was through the front. It had to be unlocked, otherwise she would have had to unlock it to let someone in and she wouldn't have let someone else in if she didn't know them."

"Maybe she did know them."

"She wasn't expecting anyone to show up here besides me."

"It's Christmas Eve, maybe someone stopped by to wish her a happy holidays."

"I doubt that. She doesn't have much family, and not here. She does have a few neighbors she talks to but most of them are out of town, and the lady next door came over yesterday to chat with her."

"Well it's obvious that someone showed up here. There had to have been a struggle, because of the snacks on the floor. If she spilled them herself she would have cleaned them up right?"

"Yeah, so if they were struggling the snacks were spilled in the process."

"Okay Reid how about this? She's getting the snacks right, in the kitchen. We know if someone came in they did it without having her come to the door, so while she's in the kitchen they make their way inside. She hears the door open, probably assumes it's you and doesn't think much of it. She moves into the living room expecting to see you, but it's not you. This person threatens her, she resists, spills the snacks, and they take her."

"Yeah, but unless he's an incredibly strong man, she wouldn't be that threatened. She's pretty strong and she knows how to fight. So we can guess that it has to be a man who's fairly strong and large in stature."

"Not exactly. What if he used something else to threaten her?"

"What do we suppose he's using?"

Morgan looks to her F.B.I. badge, still sitting on the table. "Reid, when Ashley gets home, where does she put her gun?"

"On the table by the couch…oh god."

"You said you can't find her gun. Well if she put it on her couch side table, then the man could have picked it up when he walked in and she was in the kitchen, then she walks in the living room and now he has her gun pointed right at her. She now has to comply with what he wants. She has no way of fighting back, so she goes with him."

"But where? Where could he have taken her?

All of a sudden, Reid's cell phone rang. He saw that it was Ashley calling him. "Ashley! Oh thank god. Where are you? Are you okay?"

"Hello, Dr. Reid." The man on the other end of the line said.

"Where is she?"

"Not so fast Spencer, be patient. In due time you will know."

"How do you know my name?"

"Your name is in sweet Ashley's phone of course."

"No, she doesn't call me Dr. Reid. She has me in her phone as Spencer. You called me Dr. Reid."

"I have my ways Dr. Reid. I've been watching you. You've been coming over to dear Ashley's home quite often these past few weeks. That's a cute kitten she has, no tail huh? That's quite unique."

"Listen! You tell us where she is right now, or things are going to get really bad for you!" Reid screamed at the man on the phone.

"Reid stay calm." Morgan warned him.

"I will give you anything you want, just tell me where she is."

"I'm sorry Dr. Reid, I can't do that. Which really is a shame because I know how much you love your little girlfriend."

"You bastard. I swear I will find you!"

The line went dead. The man on the other end had hung up. Spencer threw the phone onto the couch.

"What did he say man?" Morgan asked.

"He's been watching us. He knows I've been over here pretty frequently these past few weeks."

"Okay, so he's local. Possibly across the street or something if he's always here to see you come over."

"He's looked in the windows. He's mentioned the cat having no tail."

"Well Reid, he was in the house he probably saw the cat when he was here."

"No, Izzie doesn't really like new people. She hides unless she knows that it's Ashley or me. When that man came in it would have scared her, she would have hid. He's been watching through the window. Maybe not all of the time, but at least once."

"So he's probably a neighbor, someone who's been stalking her."

Reid stood up and looked at the table on the side of the couch.

"Reid? What's wrong man?"

"This card. I gave it to Ashley a few days ago and I told her on the phone tonight to open it and read it before I came over. On the phone just now, the man said 'I know how much you love your little girlfriend'. He was quoting this card, that means he read it."

"Okay, we will get Garcia to do a print analysis on it, find a finger print, and then we figure out who has her. We find out where he lives, what he does, we find her in no time."

* * *

After about an hour Garcia had finally figured out who it was who took Seaver.

"Okay guys there were three sets of prints on that card. Obviously, there were Reid's, then Ashley's, and finally another set that belong to a man named Brandon Harmen."

"Nice work Garcia, where does he live."

"Okay get this. He lives at 1137 North Elm Street, that's pretty much right across the street from Seaver's house. That house has been on the market for quite some time and Brandon Harmen just moved in there in the last month."

"Okay so for the last month, he's been watching her." Morgan said back to Garcia on the phone. "Do you know if anyone else lives there with him Garcia?"

"Nope, he lives there by himself. He moved from Florida. Get this, I did some digging and I found out through social media that he was in a long term relationship with a girl he went to college with. It was going on for about 5 years. Seems he was going to propose to her but he never was able to because she was in a terrible car accident. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Her name was Amelia Stevens. That wasn't too long ago, because about a month after that happened he quit his job, and moved up here by himself, right across the street from Seaver."

"Her name was Amelia Stevens? Her and Ashley share the same initals. That's just creepy."

"This whole thing is creepy."

"Do you think that Ashley reminds him of the girlfriend he lost?"

"Most definitely. I have a picture of her that I'm sending your way now. Check it out."

Morgan took the phone away from his ear and looked at the picture. Putting the phone back to his ear he resumes his conversation with Garcia.

"Whoa, you weren't kidding. Well now we know his motive for taking her. He's been so emotionally distraught about losing the girl he loves, that when he saw Ashley he wanted her to replace Ameila. He probably would have tried to talk to her, ask her out like a normal person, but when he noticed Reid hanging out over here and kissing Seaver he panicked. He thought his chance was disappearing before his eyes, so in his mind his only choice was to take her."

"Love makes you do crazy things."

"Yeah you don't have to tell me, I'm over here with Reid and he's pacing the floor like a crazy person. When the unsub called him on the phone, I've never seen Reid so angry. I mostly think of Reid as a small puppy who negotiates. There was no negotiation in this conversation, just anger."

"Ahh he's in love. Our little boy is growing up."

"Garcia, the police just told Reid that Brandon Herman's home checks out as clear. He isn't there. That means he has her somewhere else. Is there anywhere else that he owns here, another home, a business building, something like that?"

"No my sweet, just the home across from Seaver."

"Guys!" Reid called out to the rest of the room. "He's calling again, it's Brandon Herman."

"Garcia, can you track the call coming in to Reids cell phone?" Morgan asked her.

"Of course, it might take a minute though. Keep him talking." Garcia answered.

Morgan motioned to Reid to pick up the phone, he motioned in a circle with his finger to have Reid keep him on the line.

"Hello?" Reid answered the phone.

"Spencer?"

"Ashley!" He said as he heard Ashley's voice. "Ashley are you okay?"

"Hello, Dr. Reid."

Reid rolled his eyes as he heard the man come onto the line. "Hello Mr. Herman."

"Ahh so you know who I am. Very good."

"Why are you doing this Mr. Herman? What do you want?"

"All I want is Ashley. All you have to do is say that you are going to leave her alone. Get out of her life, so that I can step in. She doesn't need you."

"I can't do that, sir. You see I could never leave her life, we work together. We see each other all of the time."

"Then quit your job! Just leave her alone. You are in my way."

"I think in order to be in a relationship with someone, you both need to be willing to be in the relationship, and Ashley doesn't seem very willing to do that am I right?"

"What do you mean, she is going to love me."

"Oh yeah, is that why she fought with you when you tried to pull her out of the house? If she loved you she would have gone willingly right? That probably makes you angry doesn't it. That you want her so bad, but she doesn't want you?"

Morgan motioned to him that Garcia has traced the call.

"Dr. Reid, it doesn't matter if she doesn't want me. I want her, and I'm going to have her."

"Not if I can help it."

Reid ended the phone call. Quickly pulling on a F.B.I. vest, Morgan and Reid and some other officers piled into their vehicles. Garcia had traced the call to a run down hotel room on the opposite side of town. They were speeding to get to the hotel. They called the hotel and the receptionist was able to tell them that there was no one there by the name of Brandon Herman. However there was a man who had come in with a blonde woman and he says his name was Brian Harris, and he paid in cash. They knew that was Mr. Herman. He gave a fake name and paid in cash to cover his trail. They were able to get a room number. Room 175.

"We are never going to make it. It's all the way across town. He's going to have his way with her before we can make it." Reid hung his head in his hands. He was sitting in the passenger seat. Morgan was driving as fast as he could.

"Reid I'm going as fast as I can without getting us into an accident alright? We will make it okay."

Finally after just about 10 minutes they made it across town to the hotel where Garcia traced the call. They ran out of the car to room 175. Morgan used his foot to break the door in.

"F.B.I.!" Morgan yelled as he and the team ran into the room. "You had better back away from her this instant before I blow your brains out."

They had ran into the room to see Brandon Herman leaning over Seaver. She was half naked, only in her bra and underwear, laying in the middle of the bed. She was crying. Seeing all of the guns pointed at him, Brandon Herman got off of the bed and put his hands up.

"I just wanted her to love me like I love her."

Morgan got closer to him and was able to grab him so that he could put the handcuffs on him. "You don't love her, you just think you do. She isn't Amelia, Brandon."

Now that Mr. Herman was being handcuffed it was safe for Reid to run over to help Ashley. She was half naked and he knew she probably didn't want to be, especially since she was now in a room full of strange men, and Reid and Morgan. He grabbed the comforter from the bed and wrapped it around her. After she was covered he wrapped his arms around her in a hug. She continued to cry into his shoulder.

"Ashley, are you okay? Did he hurt you?"

"I'm okay. I thought I might never see you again."

"I know, I thought the same thing. We need to get you to the hospital."

"Spencer I'm fine."

"You can't be sure of that. Ash, he didn't touch you did he?"

"I know what you are asking Spencer, and I'm going to tell you this once and we are never talking about it again. He undressed me and made me lay on the bed. He touched me over my bra and underwear, but you guys made it in time. That was as far as he got. Thank you, for getting here when you did."

"I'm so sorry."

"No, please. You guys saved me, I'm lucky. I'm fine, really."

"You're all bruised. We need to take you to get you checked over."

"He handled me pretty roughly. I think he was afraid I would try to fight him if he loosened his grip. I tried to fight him back at my house and after that he realized I wasn't going to go quietly."

"Come on, lets get you up and get you to the hospital okay?" When she didn't stand up he realized that she was scared. "I'll be with you the whole time okay? I'm not going anywhere. I promise you, everything is going to be okay."

* * *

"Alright, home sweet home." Reid said as he helped Ashley walk into her house later that night. He made sure to lock the front door behind him. He noticed her looking around the room when they walked into the living room.

"Come on, follow me." Reid motioned to her.

"What are you doing?" She asked as Reid took her hand.

"You are going to come with me while I check every room in this house. You aren't going to relax until you know that no one is in the house besides us."

So Reid and Seaver went into every room in the house checking to make sure no one was there. It was just Ashley, Spencer, and Izzie the kitten.

"Sit on the couch, I'll go make you some hot chocolate." Spencer told her as he walked into the kitchen.

She walked over to the doorway and looked out of the window. She could see the house that Brandon Herman moved into just a month ago. She had never really known who he was. She had seen him move in, but she was always so busy at work that she never had the opportunity to go over and chat. She had met him once right after he had moved in. Just enough to exchange names and say hello. Apparently it had sparked something inside of him to make him want to be with her.

"Here you go." She heard Spencer say from the living room. "Ashley?"

"I'm right here Spence." She said as she walked around the corner into the living room.

"Don't do that to me, please. I never want to have that feeling again."

"What feeling?" She asked as she sat on the couch and took the hot chocolate from him.

"That horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach when I realized you were gone and someone had taken you. It was the worst I've ever felt in my entire life."

"Trust me, it didn't feel so great for me either."

"I'm so sorry. I should have been here. I was supposed to be here, but I was late. If I would have just told the nurses that I would have to deal with my mother another time, I could have been here, and none of this would have happened. We could have had a wonderful night together. Now we've both had a terrifying experience and you're afraid whenever I leave your sight."

"It's not your fault. I left the door unlocked. I was stupid."

"It's okay. It's over now. I got you back, and I don't plan on letting anything like that happen again."

"Spencer, I read your card before everything happened tonight. What you said, do you really mean all of that?"

"Oh course, I really mean all of that. I love you, and I would love it if we could be official with each other."

"Yes, I think we should. I want to be your girlfriend."

"Well then Ms. Seaver, will you seal it with a kiss?" Reid asked her.

"Most definitely I will." She leaned forward to give him a few kisses. Then she pulled away from him and wrapped her arms around his torso. "Thank you Spencer, for fighting so hard to find me tonight. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't."

"Well, I was going to do everything possible to get you back. I love you, remember. I'm not just going to let the girl I love go down like that."

"Spencer, will you stay here with me, just for a few days? I'm kind of scared still and I would feel better if you were here at night with me."

"Sure thing. It's been a long night, you want to hit the hay now?"

"Yeah I do. Sorry that this kind of ruined our plans."

"Nah, we can have our Christmas Eve tomorrow night instead. Now you go on up to bed."

"You're coming with me right?"

"I thought I was going to sleep on the couch. You don't feel sleeping in your bed would be rushing?"

"No, I really want you there."

"Ok. I'll come with you." Spencer said as he followed her up the stairs into her bedroom.

Climbing into her bed he tentatively reached his arms out for her. She snuggled up into his chest and took in a deep breath. She could smell his cologne. It was a comforting scent and she knew that she was back with him and she was safe. That was all that mattered to her. Although she was still afraid and she was nervous to close her eyes, having him there made her feel a bit more safe. Closing her eyes, she whispered to him, "Hey Spence?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you too."

* * *

Okay there you have it. I didn't get a chance to really proofread this one, so if there are any major errors let me know and I will gladly fix it for you guys. I hope you enjoyed it. Let me know what you thought however, by reviewing the chapter! I would love to hear from you guys!


	8. Chapter 8

This one is pretty short. Sorry for that. I wish more people wrote for this pairing, Seaver/Reid. I would like to read some other fics besides mine. lol.

* * *

"No, please don't."

The sound of whispers and whimpering woke Spencer Reid from his sleep. He took in his surroundings and remembered that he was staying at Ashley Seaver's house for the night. She was scared after she had been taken by the man who lived across the street. He looked down at her, and noticed the look of discomfort on her face. She must have been having a nightmare.

"Ashley." Reid tried to wake her. "It's okay."

"Please. Help me. Spencer!" Ashley continued to cry.

Again, Reid tried to wake her by lightly shaking her shoulder. "Ashley. It's me, Spencer. Wake up."

"Oh god, please no! Spencer, help me…"

"Please wake up, Ashley. Please wake up, it's me. It's okay, you're safe now." With one final shake of her shoulder, Spencer was able to wake Ashley from her nightmare.

"Spencer?"

"I'm right here. You're alright." He pulled her into a hug. "You were just dreaming."

"It was so real. I suppose that's because it was real, I was just reliving it."

"Maybe you should talk to someone about this, as in someone besides me, a professional."

"I don't know. I'm not sure that's necessary. It's still fresh, of course I would have a nightmare about it tonight. I'm sure it will pass in a few days."

"Okay, well what can I do to help?"

"Just hug me tighter."

"I can do that." He pulled her a little tighter into himself. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah. I'll be fine. I just need a few days to get over it, and then everything will be back to normal. When I was younger, I used to have nightmares every so often because of the things my dad would do. I remember trying to stay awake for a few days straight so that I wouldn't have to fall into the trap of the nightmares."

"That must have been rough."

"You know what was really rough? Knowing that the things my dad did to those women, were worse than the things I saw in my nightmares."

Spencer didn't know what to say. He just lay next to her and continued to rub his hand along her arm.

"I think I'm going to get a glass of water." Ashley got up from the bed. "You want anything?"

"No, I'm alright. Hurry back." He watched her nod as she left the bedroom.

Laying back on his pillow he let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding in. He wanted to help her, more than anything. However, he didn't think that hugs, and laying next to her in bed were going to erase all of her problems. He desperately wanted her to talk to someone, a professional, someone who was not him. Maybe they could help her with not only being kidnapped, but with her issues with her childhood. He knew that she wouldn't seek the help herself, so he was going to have to do it for her.

* * *

A few days later, Spencer walked into Ashley's house. She told him to make a copy of her key so he could let himself in whenever he wanted to. He thought it best to call out to her that he was coming in as to not scare her.

"Ash, it's me!"

"Hey, I'm in the kitchen." He heard her call out to him.

Walking into the kitchen he saw Ashley cooking something on the stove. It looked like chicken to him.

"Oh that looks delicious. Am I allowed to stay for dinner?"

"Of course. I always make enough for two, just in case you stop by for dinner. And recently since you have been staying here at night, I've just assumed that most nights you will be here for dinner."

"Well I'm always up for good homecooked food. I never had that as a kid, and even as an adult, I'm not that great of cook. I am however a whiz at using a microwave."

Ashley laughed at him. "Well if I ever need help making easy mac or a frozen dinner, then I know who to call."

As Ashley placed the food onto two plates, Spencer spoke up. "So have you given any more thought to what I said the other night?"

"thought to what?" She asked as she placed the plates on the table and they sat down.

"Seeing a therapist."

"I don't know Spencer. A therapist? You really think it's that bad that I would need a therapist?"

"I think that it couldn't hurt to see one. You have nightmares, obviously some post traumatic stress. Why wouldn't you want to go?"

"It just seems so weak, not being able to deal with my problems myself. Needing someone else's help, it seems like I can't handle my own issues."

"Yeah, needing someone's help to get over something that you can't get over yourself. Crazy, right?"

Spencer looked away from her and picked at his food. He didn't seem to want to make eye contact with her. Suddenly it hit her. What she had said, she had insulted him.

"Oh, no! Spence, that's not what I meant. I wasn't talking about you…"

"It's okay. I get it. You don't have to try to cover up what you said."

"I'm not trying to say that you are weak, you know I don't think that Spencer." She tried to reach forward to him, but he pulled back.

"You know, the whole time I was under the power of that drug, I felt weak. I WAS weak. That drug was strong, and I was weak." He looked down at his lap.

"Spencer…"

"But it was just for a moment. You and everyone else may not consider me as strong, but in reality I am strong. I work for the FBI, I put myself in situations that others wouldn't ever wish to imagine themselves in, and something like that, it makes me a strong person. I survived being the child of a mother with a serious mental condition and something like that, it made me strong. I never get to be weak. It's tough to be strong all of the time, but it's easy to be weak. So when I was on that drug, it made me weak and I gave into it. Because it was easy. It was hard to admit that I needed help to become strong again, but I did need help. If I wouldn't have gotten the help, I would still be weak."

He looked up at her. She was the one looking away now. He lifted himself up and brought his chair closer to her around the table.

"Ashley, look at me." He saw her lift her head to look at him. "You are strong. You survived being the child of a father with a serious mental condition, and that made you strong. You work for the FBI, doing things that other people would never want to get involved with, and that makes you strong. You are strong, and you never get to be weak. Being that strong all of the time, it's hard. You are only having a moment of weakness, but you need help to get back to being strong. Let me help you, by getting you help."

Ashley looked into his eyes. He looked so sincere there was no way that she could say no to him. What was the harm in going to at least one session. "Okay, I'll go. But can you go with me?"

"Of course. Whatever you want."

"Thank you Spencer. I love you."

"I only want to help you feel better. I love you too."

* * *

A few weeks later, Ashley was sitting in her living room surrounded by a pile of letters. She had been going to a therapist for a few days every week, and one of the things that the therapist suggested is that she make peace with her father. She had thought that she had, but her therapist said that she more thank likely only made peace with what her father did, not her father himself. She hadn't made peace with the fact that he wasn't the father to her that she wanted him to be, and because of his actions she was robbed of her childhood.

So she decided that she would open a few of the letters from her father. He still sent them to her, but she never opened them. Maybe now was the time to read them and make peace with him. She looked at them all sitting around her, there was so many. He had sent quite a few and she had never opened any of them. She picked up the one he had sent her first, right after he went to prison. She was younger then, about 18. She wasn't ready at the time to read what he had to say, but now maybe she was ready.

She heard her front door open.

"Hey, Ashley!"

"In the living room." She responded. She looked up to see Spencer Reid walk into the room.

"I got your message to come by, what's going on?"

"I went to my session today."

"How did it go? I'm sorry I couldn't go today, but I had some things I had to get done at work."

"It went well. Dr. Andrews talked about how I might be ready to forgive my father for everything that went on in my childhood. Not being there for me like a normal father, not getting to have a normal childhood, things like that. She recommended that I read some of the letters that he sent me. I've had them for so long and haven't read any of them, but maybe now I should."

"If that's what you want to do."

"Yeah it is, at least I think it is. I wanted you to come by because I wanted to read them with you."

"Okay, I can do that."

She took the letter in her hands and went to open it. It was the first letter that her father had ever sent her, right after he went away to prison. "Here goes nothing." She pulled the letter out from the envelope. It was a small piece of paper, most likely from a composition notebook. It had been folded numerous times until it was a small little clump of paper. She started to unfold the paper until it was completely open. She saw that it was a short letter, something she wasn't expecting. She thought for his first letter he would have written a lengthy letter, trying to explain himself, and writing about how sorry he was to her. She handed the letter to Reid.

"Here, will you read it to me?"

"Are you sure, it seems like a private thing for you to read yourself."

"I'm sure. Please?"

"Alright." Spencer shifted on the couch they were sitting on. Holding up the letter he began to read it to her.

"My beautiful daughter, Ashley,

I want to tell you how sorry I am for what I have done. I have done not only horrible things to others, but horrible things to you, my own flesh and blood. I forced you to grow up too fast, and I have robbed you of something that you were entitled to; a childhood. I know that sorry cannot undo the things I have done or erase the pain that I have caused you, but I can only hope that one day you can forgive me. Not a day will go by that I will not miss seeing your beautiful face. I hope that you can find some form of peace for your life and I hope that you can find happiness. I love you more than anything in this world.

Sincerely,

Dad"

Ashley pulled her legs up onto the couch. "That letter almost makes him seem like a normal man, right?"

"Yeah." Spencer responded.

"There were a lot of times that he did seem normal. He would act like a normal father, but then ten minutes later I saw the anger in him. The terror inside of him that I knew made him turn into a monster. He wanted to be a good father, but he was ill. He wasn't able to be the father that I needed him to be. I was angry at him for quite a long time. But I don't want to be angry anymore."

"You don't?" Spencer put his arm around her.

"No. You know, the way I see it, being angry is easy. It's hard to forgive, to not be angry anymore. I've been stuck being angry at my father for years, because it's easy. But I just needed a little help to get back to being strong."

She leaned up to kiss Spencer. He placed his hand on her cheek and said, "That sounds really wise."

She smiled at him. "Well, I've picked up a lot of wisdom from my incredibly wise boyfriend."

* * *

Let me know what you thought. If you guys have any suggestions about something you want me to write about, I would be open to hearing any of those. Like if there was a scenario that you think I should write about Spencer/Ashley you could ask me and maybe I'll write a chapter about that. Also I just want to say thanks to everyone who reads this story, it means a lot to me that you guys read it and like it.


	9. Chapter 9

Sorry this ones a little short and not too much going on, but the next one will have two big things going on, one of them involving Spencer and Ashley getting a bit more...intimate shall we say? So that one will probably be a fun read. :)

* * *

"Morning Reid."

Reid looked up as Derek Morgan greeted him. Reid had been running a little late that morning and he was the last one in the office. He walked over to his desk and took his bag off of his shoulder.

"Hey Morgan. Good morning."

"Running a bit late today? You have a long night with a certain lady?" Morgan heckled Reid as he wiggled his eyebrows in a suggestive manor.

"Shut it. You're lucky she's not here right now or she would have come across this desk and punched you."

"Yeah she is kind of sassy."

"Once again, shut it."

"Calm down, I know not to say anything in front of her. I value not getting bruised."

Morgan returned to what he was doing beforehand when he noticed that Seaver was walking towards their desks. She gave Morgan and Reid a hello and sat at her own desk. She took a sip of her coffee.

"I wish I knew you were here Spence, I would have gotten you some. You want mine?"

"Nah, that's okay. You don't put enough sugar in it for me. I am going to go get my own."

Morgan watched Reid walk off into the break room. He turned towards Seaver with a smile on his face. He mimicked Ashley's voice, "Oh Spencer, take my coffee, please!" His smile faded. "You never offer to give me your coffee."

"I don't give my coffee to people who mock me."

"Nice to see you back Seaver. We missed you while you were gone. Well, some of us more than others."

Seaver gave him a look. "Shut it, Morgan."

"You must be hanging out with Reid too much, you're starting to talk like him."

"Don't make me come across this desk and punch you."

"See there it is again."

"Guys." Both Seaver and Morgan looked up as Reid came back to their desks. "Hotch needs us in the conference room, looks like a pretty important case."

Ashley grabbed her coffee off of the desk. "Welcome back, indeed."

* * *

The team had taken about 3 days on location in Philadelphia to work the case. Coming back late in the evening like they mostly did, they were all exhausted. Before getting into their respective vehicles Spencer stopped Ashley.

"Do you need me to come over tonight?"

Ashley stopped to think about it for a second. It had been a few weeks now since she was taken from her home by her crazed neighbor. She was back at work, and she was seeing a therapist, so she felt like she was getting better. But when she thought about staying in her house tonight, all by herself besides her kitten Izzie, she wasn't too enthusiastic about it. She wanted to be strong though, she needed to be.

"Oh, no. I'll be okay."

"You sure? It's no problem."

"It's not that I don't like you staying there, I do. I think I'm okay now though. I'm stronger now remember?" She smiled at him.

"Alright. Well, I'll see you tomorrow then. If you do need me however, you know how to get a hold of me." He leaned down and gave her a kiss goodbye.

"I do. See you tomorrow."

About and hour and a half later, Ashley Seaver was sitting on her bed with her kitten Izzie. She was in her pajamas laying under the covers, reading a book. It was late, extremely late, and she had to work the next day. She just couldn't fall asleep. She would try to fall asleep, but every bit of wind, or creak of her house, and she would shoot upright in bed, wondering what created the sound. She had already been up twice to check all of the locks on her doors to make sure they were still locked.

She put the book on her bedside table, looked at the foot of the bed where she saw her kitten sleeping, and decided to try again. Laying down, she clutched the comforter close to her chest. At that moment, she really wished she would have taken Reid up on his offer to stay. She didn't know what she was thinking, because now that he had stayed with her for the better part of two weeks, she was used to him being there next to her. She had almost forgotten what it was like to sleep in that big bed by herself. But she was strong, she didn't need him there with her all of the time, she was strong. That's what she kept telling herself. Everytime she heard a noise she would just close her eyes and repeat that to herself.

When she heard another creak she pulled the covers over her head and repeated softly, "I'm strong, I'm strong."

* * *

"Whoa, what happened to you?" Reid asked Seaver as he placed his bag on his desk the next morning. She was sitting at her desk, drinking her coffee, and she looked a mess. Her hair wasn't as perfect as it usually was, and she appeared to be dressed a bit more casual than was normal for her. What Reid really noticed was her slumped shoulders and the dark circles under her eyes.

"You know what I said about me being strong?" She asked as he nodded his head remembering their conversation the night before. "Well, I thought I was strong but, I am so not strong."

"Did you even sleep at all last night?"

"I think I got maybe 20 minutes after my brain shut down due to pure exhaustion, but other than that….no."

"You just couldn't sleep?"

"There were too many noises. You never realize just how many noises there are in the quiet of the night. Wind makes your house creak, and the tree limbs hit on the window, oh and then when you are laying there with your eyes closed trying to fall asleep and forget about the noises, your cat decides to climb on you. In the frightened state you are in, your cats paw feels like a person's hand pressing on you and it freaks you out."

"Okay, sounds like I'll be staying over tonight." Spencer said.

"I feel so bad, but could you?" She looked at him with pleading eyes. "I need sleep."

"Sure. It's no problem. I actually like staying there with you. It feels too lonely at my place."

"I want to be strong though." She pouted. "I don't want to have to rely on you being there to be able to fall asleep and not be scared to leave my bed."

"Well how about I stay there tonight so you can sleep. Then in the next few days you can call me before you go to bed, so we can talk and that can help ease your fears."

"Okay, that sounds good."

"Problem solved." Reid took a sip of his coffee.

"Not all of my problems?" Seaver put her head in her hands.

"What other problem is there?"

"How I'm going to get through this day without falling asleep standing up."

Reid frowned. "Coffee my dear, lots and lots of coffee." He pushed his coffee towards her, seeing that she had already finished hers. She picked it up and took a drink.

"Ew, how much sugar do you put in this thing? Really Spence, do you have any coffee with your sugar? That's disgusting."

"Yeah, it might be a little too sweet for you. I'll go make you another cup." He stood up and walked away.

She called out to him as he walked to the break room. "Sans sugar please!"

She heard him call back to her. "You got it!"

* * *

A few nights later, Spencer was sleeping in his own bed. Sleeping being the most important word here. He and Ashley were staying in their respective homes and she would call him every night before she went to bed. This night however, she didn't. She had told him at work that she was going to try to not call him and chat before bed, and just hope to fall asleep on her own. He assumed she must have fallen asleep on her own and fell asleep himself. His slumber however was short lived, when he was awoken around midnight by his cell phone.

"Hello?" He groggily answered.

"Spiderman or Batman?"

"What?"

"If you were in trouble, which one would you rather be there to save you?"

"Ashley, why aren't you asleep?"

"I was, but I woke up. So which one? Spiderman, or Batman?"

Spencer knew neither of them were going back to sleep unless he chatted with her for about 15 minutes, so he answered her questions.

"Well, they both bring something to the table I suppose, Batman is pretty strong and Spiderman has that ability to use the webs to his advantage. I think I would trust either one to save my life. If I had to choose however I would say Spiderman."

"Hm, Interesting. How come?"

"Let's see, I suppose because I would more identify with Spiderman. Bruce Wayne lives in a mansion, has a butler, all of that jazz. Peter Parker, he was just a normal, nerdy, young guy who had a run in with a spider and then boom he has this ability to do good and help people."

"So you are saying you are like Spiderman?" Ashley asked.

"In a way. I'm a normal, geeky, guy and I kind of have the ability to help people, you know by catching a murderer or a kidnapper."

"And you shoot webs."

"Is that supposed to be sexual?"

"I can't help it if that's the way your mind interprets it."

"You are terrible. Go to sleep." Spencer laughed.

"I can't. It's your turn to ask me a question."

"Okay." Spencer thought for a second. "Pepsi or Coke?"

"Oh neither. RC cola."

"What?! RC cola? That stuff shouldn't even be considered soda."

"Hey, it's my favorite. I don't know why I like it, but I do. I would drink that over any other soda."

"Ashley I think you might be the only one I know who would willingly choose RC over anything else to drink."

"Well, I don't make fun of your food and beverage choices."

"I'm not making fun, I'm just saying it's unique."

"Unique is just a nice way of saying weird."

"I can't help it if that's the way your mind interprets it." Spencer chuckled.

"Oh be quiet."

"You see what I did there?"

"Yes, Spencer, I see what you did there."

"Can we go to sleep now?"

"Yes. We can go to sleep. Thanks for talking with me."

"No problem. Goodnight Ashley."

"Goodnight." Before she hung up the phone she quickly called out to him. "Wait, Spence?"

"Yeah?"

"I just wanted to say that I really appreciate what you've done for me these past few weeks. It means a lot to me that you care so much."

"You're welcome. I'm never going to not help you out when you need it. I know you would do the same for me."

"I love you, you know?"

"Yeah, I do know. I love you too."


End file.
